


The Currency We've Spent

by Imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch



Series: I Love You, You Pay My Rent [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Human AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-07-08 17:12:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15934799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch/pseuds/Imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch
Summary: Nico's life has stablised somewhat. He's managed to keep it together with Will  and (as long as he ignores the fact his father might be part of a shady crime empire responsible for a lot of the tragedy in his and his friend's lives) things are looking up. But the fact his father might be part of a shady crime empire isn't ignoring him. And Luke's in town. As secrets are revealed, questions like what happened to Will's mother and whether Bianca's death really was an accident have to be faced. Nico isn't so sure whether he, or his relationships with Will and his friends, are going to survive the past coming back to haunt them.Sequel to I Love You, You Pay My Rent





	1. Prologue

“Thalia come _on_!”

Thalia glared at his back: he couldn’t see it, but he knew her and he could feel the weight of it.

“Good idea,” she spat out, “I wouldn’t have thought of that.” Her breathing was ragged: she’d gotten a lungful of dust back in the warehouse and it was playing havoc with her ability to run, and even more so with her ability to run and be sarcastic at him at the same time. He turned back. She was still clutching Hal’s jacket in one hand, fingers almost white she was holding on so hard. Her long, dark hair was whipping around her face, getting in her eyes. Her face was red.

“Luke!” she cried.

He turned back, just in time to see a man in black before him. He ducked, stumbled and rolled to the side, jarring his shoulder. The man grabbed at Thalia but she decked him with a ferocious right hook, wincing and shaking her hand out. Behind her two more men came, both heading for Thalia.

She started running, back into the warehouse. That didn’t seem like the smartest choice, but he couldn’t do anything but follow her back in. It was a large space, stripped bare by the time Thalia and Luke had broken in. There was no cover. The windows, covered with black paint, were far too high up to climb out if they’d had all the time in the world.

“Uh Thalia?”

“The door at the back.”

It had been locked when they’d tested it before. Thalia had _way_ too much faith in his lock-picking abilities. He’d opened her locker for her once when she’d lost her key and ever since then she seemed to think of him as some kind of master thief. He _really_ wasn’t.

“They’ve got guns,” Luke commented as he followed her over to the back door.

“They’re not going to shoot us,” Thalia replied, too blasé.

“Are you sure?” Luke demanded. “Because those people look pretty serious Thalia.”

It shouldn’t have gone like this. They’d just been looking for Hal and last they’d heard he’d been in the general (extremely shady) area of the warehouse. That had been quickly confirmed by Hal’s jacket, muddy and dirty and slumped in a puddle outside. 

Hal was a bit of a nightmare, and after he had gotten in with the wrong people had become doubly so. When he’d disappeared from the party they’d initially assumed he’d wandered off with someone but when he still hadn’t turned up the next morning they’d gone looking for him. They should have figured that he would lead them into trouble.

“Now you just do your thing and I’ll try and stop them shooting at you.”

Her words were flippant, but there was a tremor in her voice. Luke closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath and tried very hard not to swear.

“Do you have a hair clip?" he asked instead. 

Thalia looked momentarily blank. Their breaking into the warehouse had basically involved shoving the door really hard: whoever had stripped the warehouse had done all the work for them. She reached up into her hair and extracted a pin. She held it out to him, too far away from him for him to properly reach. Her eyes were distant, her focus was on a man walking towards them, leisurely and unhurried, a gun loose in his hand.

“Thalia!” he prompted, leaning up on his knees.

“I recognise him,” she said in a slightly strangled voice. “He works for my dad.”

Luke got Thalia’s sudden trepidation and confusion. Her dad was slightly terrifying. He’d somehow got it into his head that Luke and Thalia were a thing, and he made no attempt to disguise how much he disapproved to the point where Luke wouldn’t have been too surprised if he woke up to find an assassin in his room.

And if he wasn’t motivated to open the door before, he was now. Luckily the lock was cheap, barely any more sturdy than the lockers they used at school. He got the door open and dragged Thalia through, with a twinge of satisfaction when the man who had been walking so calmly frowned and quickened his pace to a run. Luke slammed the door in his face. It wouldn’t hold but it was worth it for the look of pure hatred in his eyes.  

“Oh no!” Thalia said softly.

Luke turned. A black SUV was parked opposite. Standing in front of it was a man he recognised as filling the role of Bodyguard/Babysitter to Thalia which mainly involved picking her up from parties she wasn’t supposed to have gone to and glaring at Luke. Today he’d upgraded from glares to full on death stare. Thalia inched closer to Luke, slipping slightly behind him. Luke swallowed. _Thalia_ getting nervous meant trouble.

“Thalia Grace,” the man intoned, thunderous and furious and cold with it. “Get in the car.”

Thalia, to her credit, despite hiding behind Luke just folded her eyes and glared back.

“I’m looking for my friend,” she said, stubborn.

How nice it would have been if that had worked. Behind them the door opened and he tensed. Thalia tensed in response.

He hadn’t expected to be pulled away from Thalia but his arm was nearly yanked out of the socket, and then was twisted behind his back. He yelped, helpless. Thalia moved towards him, but the man who had grabbed him from behind just took a step back, pulling Luke with him.

“Leave him alone!”

“Then get in the car,” death-glare bodyguard answered.  

Thalia wavered, glanced at him. Luke, hesitant to speak in case it was against the guy with the guns rules, tried to send _just go_ vibes her way. As scary as her dad was, maybe it was better she went home now rather than later. He didn’t particularly want her at the mercy of the guys with the guns, even if they did work for her father.

“How do I know you’ll let him go?” she asked.

“I’ll text you,” Luke said quickly. Behind him he could hear footsteps in the warehouse.

Thalia did not look convinced.

“Go,” Luke said quietly. “I’ll be alright.”

He didn’t quite believe it himself, and he didn’t know if Thalia fully believed it. She took another half step towards him, but stopped when his arm was twisted and he winced in response.

“Promise me you’ll let him go?” Thalia said. The man holding Luke agreed that Luke could go as soon as Thalia was at home. His tone was flat, bored, monotone. Luke prayed that Thalia wouldn’t argue anymore, that she’d just go. The footsteps in the warehouse were getting closer and he didn’t know if they were with Thalia’s father’s guys or against them.

And since when did Thalia's dad have _guys_. 

“Okay,” Thalia said, very quietly.

“I’ll text you,” she added. “The second I’m home and if you’re not free I’ll –“ she trailed off as if becoming aware there was very little she could do.

“I swear my dad won’t get away with this,” she told Luke. “I won’t let him.”

The little arguments between her and her father shook their excessively big house, like incoming thunder. Luke believed her.

She headed to the car, dragging her feet. She glanced back over her shoulder at him. They’d come straight from the party to search for Hal, so her clothes were rumpled, her eyeliner smudged around red eyes. Hal’s jacket was heavy in her hand, the silvery material brownish from the water and dripping. She gave him a rueful half-smile.

And then she got in the car. 

True to their word, they let him go when they received the news Thalia was back at home, dropping him to the ground into a puddle and clearing out so quickly it was as if they were never there at all. He texted Thalia to let her know they’d kept their promise.

He began the long walk home, sodden, tired and faintly irritated at Hal, even more so at Thalia’s father. Luke tried to believe that he had Thalia’s best interests at heart, even if he was an awful awful father who kept her from doing pretty much anything and hated all her friends. She’d talked about running away so many times, Luke often had a Sunday night panic that he wouldn’t see her in school on Monday morning. She always laughed off his fears and promised she’d never run away without him.

They had all sorts of plans, which mostly involved one of them having a car (which they didn’t) or one of them suddenly coming into money (unlikely). Still, lying back on the roof of Thalia’s house, or sitting in the tree of his tiny, overgrown garden watching the stars, the plans had seemed tangible and real.

As he was trudging down the street, he got a call from Hal.

“Where are you?” Luke demanded, not giving Hal a chance to speak.

“Where?” he said in response to Hal’s answer.

The police station was unfamiliar territory to Luke, who despite Thalia’s father’s opinion of him, didn’t make a habit of being arrested. Even Hal, who had all the wrong friends and an unlucky streak, had never been arrested before.

After a lot of bureaucracy, he was eventually allowed to see Hal. Hal looked nervous and fidgety. Luke sat down opposite him and rubbed at his aching head. His hair was wet from the rain, felt grimy and tangled. No wonder the police officer at the front desk had looked at him like he was coming to hand himself in. 

“You know I have no money right?” Luke asked. “So if you want me to bail you out –“

Hal shook his head very quickly.

“They’ve called my parents,” he said in a low voice. He glanced over at the police officer who wasn’t paying the slightest attention to what the two teenagers were doing. “I wanted to give you this.”

Hal held out a notepad. 

“Why?”

“Just take it,” Hal said. “Please.”

Luke took it with considerable confusion.

“Do you want me to read it or –“

“Throw it away,” Hal said. “The second you get out of here. The first bin you see just chuck it.”

Luke frowned at him.

“What are you getting me into?” he asked. Drug deals and gangs and crime flashed before his eyes in a story he'd probably modelled of the godfather. It ended with him dead and Hal's body being found in a river. Hal’s expression puckered.

“I know,” he whispered. “I know. I’m so sorry. You don’t have to, I guess, but if you don’t I don’t know what will happen and –“

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it,” Luke protested, shoving the notepad into the inner pocket of his jacket. “I just want to point out that this is insane. Even for you Hal.”

Hal was about to answer but his mother walked in, looking weary but not especially surprised. Hal closed his eyes and looked resigned.

“I owe you,” he said. “If you ever need a favour, I’m here.”

“What locked up in a police station?” Luke asked slightly sarcastically. It had been a long night. He rubbed his temples again.

“You don’t owe me,” he said. “Happy to do it.”

As he left the police station he checked his phone and when he saw Thalia hadn't texted back he tried to call her. Her phone went straight to voicemail. He frowned, a sense of foreboding beginning to build. Her father was constantly threatening to cut off her phone if she continued going out without telling him. Luke had always been doubtful he’d go through on that threat, purely because then he couldn’t keep tabs on her, but maybe he’d finally followed through.

Distracted by Thalia’s MIA status, the notepad stayed in the pocket of his jacket thoroughly forgotten the entire walk home. When he got home he checked the answer machine on the landline in case Thalia had tried there but there was nothing. He threw his jacket on the floor and flopped down on his bed. She should have called.  

Without Thalia to distract him the weekend dragged. He briefly considered going over to her house, but if her father really had cut off her phone then he was clearly angrier than he’d ever been, and turning up would probably only get her into more trouble. He had never been so restless as he was during that weekend: his head was full of questions about what had happened after Thalia had gotten home, why her father had upgraded to sending out men with guns (actual guns!) to chase after her.

Thalia's dad was harsh, emotionally draining and definitely toxic but Luke had never worried about whether or not he was physically harming Thalia before. He worried now. 

He’d never been excited to get into school in his life, but by the time Monday morning rolled around he was desperate to get out of the house and to see Thalia. When he didn’t see her in their first class, his stomach dropped. He tried to be rational. Maybe she was just late. But he knew something was wrong. He'd known all weekend. Thalia wouldn't just stop calling him back. She wouldn't. Not Thalia. 

At lunchtime, after calling Thalia once more and finding the phone now out of service, he tried to track down her brother. Despite the amount of time he spent with Thalia he'd only run into Jason once or twice, Thalia's father doing his level best to ensure the two of them were kept well apart. Luke was pretty sure the kid had no real clue who Luke was, and certainly wouldn't be able to pick him out of a line up. Luke in return had no real idea who Jason hung out with or what he might be doing with his lunch break. With the school year only just starting, Jason had only been at their school a couple of weeks and no one Luke asked had any idea about the blonde freshman. 

Thalia wasn't in the next day either.

On Wednesday he went to her house and found it empty and dark. By the end of the week he was pretty sure he'd never see her again.  

He found out much later that Thalia had been moved off to boarding school, somewhere far away from him. All he could remember from the initial weeks, and then months, after her disappearance was the loneliness and the increasingly desperate attempts to figure out what happened to her, to contact her or someone who might know her. There was nothing, no one. 

Hal had gone too, transferred away to a new school. At some point Luke remembered the notepad in his jacket on his floor where it had been lying since the night of the party, the last time he'd seen Thalia. Desperate for a distraction, and despite what Hal had said, he opened it up.

And that was when he found the memory stick.


	2. Chapter One - To a Dive bar in a West End Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title from West End Girls by the Pet Shop Boys (let's see if I can get another twenty or so chapter titles out of their song lyrics).

It had been just over a month since Will had almost been shot.

Nico shrugged on his fancy jacket and attacked the tie around his neck, trying to make it feel less like he was being strangled. He very briefly considered calling for Will but that was too cliché for words and besides he doubted Will would hear him over the music blasting in the living room. Will had woken up on the wrong side of bed and had been fidgety and restless ever since. Unlike Nico who coped with restlessness by being even more grumpy than usual, Will had been coping with it by listening to old albums at full volume as though if the music was loud enough he wouldn’t have to focus on his thoughts.

It was doubtful Will was antsy about the Stag Do. It was a small, low-key event: just Percy, him and Will and Jason, along with a handful of Percy’s other closer friends. Nico, despite what he’d unsuccessfully faked for Percy and Jason, was _not_ looking forward to the do. Jason had been in charge of it so there was unlikely to be any surprise strippers, however Jason had been so distracted of late that some details had been passed Nico’s way. On one hand, Nico could admit Jason was under a lot of pressure. On the other, Nico had taken a solemn oath not to do anything as best man and couldn’t Jason just hold it together long enough to plan a freaking party?

Nico gave up with the tie and padded irritably out into the living room where Will was flopped on the sofa. He was still dressed in sweatpants and an old tshirt, and was staring at his phone with an expression Nico couldn’t quite read.

“Are sweatpants the new suit?” Nico asked. “Did I dress up for nothing?”

Will hmmed in response, and Nico was incredibly suspicious Will hadn’t heard a word.

“I hate this song,” Nico tried, which was usually enough to start an incensed rant or at least get an eye roll if Will saw through what he was doing, but Will didn’t even try to respond.

Nico leant right over the sofa and flicked gently at Will’s hair.

“Will!”

Will blinked and refocused on Nico. Then he smiled, and too late Nico tried to step back out of the way but Will just caught hold of his arm and pulled him forward. He didn’t, as Nico had expected, pull him all the way over, perhaps because Will had seen how long it had taken Nico to iron his damn outfit and didn’t want to murdered on the night of Percy’s stag do. Instead, he just knelt up on the sofa and began re-doing Nico’s tie for him. It was so freaking domestic, Nico nearly pulled back out of principle as his heart stuttered.

“You’re like so bad at this,” Will said as he struggled to undo the knot. “You might want to consider getting one of those pull on ones, you know the ones designed for little kids.”

“Don’t need to,” Nico said. “That’s what you’re for.”

“I also pay for the apartment,” Will said. “If you’re going to imply you’re using me at least do it properly.”

“You _don’t_ pay for the apartment!” Nico protested. “That’s what the whole issue was.”

 Will thought about that with a fair enough jerk of his head.

“Okay,” he said. “But neither do you. I could always kick you out…”

“Uh-huh. And then who would make you coffee?”

“Starbucks,” Will answered without hesitation.

One of his fingers brushed Nico’s jaw as he retied the tie. 

“You’ve really thought this through,” Nico said, distracting himself from how pretty Will looked when he was concentrating, how easy it was for Will to drag him over and do his tie like they’d been married for forty years not sharing an apartment for four months (not including the brief interlude during which Nico had been living with Reyna).

“Every time you complain about the pineapple on our pizzas, yeah.”

The knot looking mannequin perfect, Will sank back down onto the sofa and reached for his phone.

“I don’t know if I can make it tonight,” he said softly.

Nico crossed round to sit in the armchair. He appraised Will carefully. In the spirit of starting again, there were arguments they hadn’t rehashed (or even touched on), and Will’s job – or whatever you could call it – with Luke was one of them. Nico knew Will was no longer sneaking off at odd hours, and that had been enough for him. After all he could hardly drag up Will’s past with Will when Nico was doing the best to bury his head in the sand about everything that had happened with his and Jason’s dads with arying degrees of sucess. At least Will hadn't asked what his nightmares were about but he had to have guessed.

And yeah complete and utter denial was totally going to come round and kick him, probably sooner rather than later, but for now he was enjoying the relative peace. Thinking about his dad or Jason's dad or that gun made his head hurt. 

Now Will was looking all distant and thoughtful and cagey again. Nico rubbed his temples and tried to be the understanding boyfriend.

“How come?”

Okay so maybe that came out more accusatory.

Will looked up sharply registering Nico’s tone, then registered his expression.

“It’s not - ” he said, then faltered. _It’s not Luke_ , was left unsaid. “It’s about my foster brother. He might need a place to crash a couple of days.”

Nico blinked.

“How many siblings do you have?” he asked.

“Just Kayla and Austin,” Will said as though he’d spoken about Austin before and it was Nico’s fault for not remembering him, when as far as Nico was concerned a foster brother was entirely new information. How had that not come up before?

“Anyway, Cecil offered except he’s got this thing for the evening and I’d rather not leave Austin stranded at the station.”

That all made sense, at least up until the secret brother part.

“This isn’t one of those life changing secrets,” Will said, probably more closely aware of what was going on in Nico’s head than Nico was.

“Austin got moved when my mom died,” he continued, very very quietly. “We lost touch until a friend of a friend of Cecil’s knew a friend of Austin’s and –“ he shrugged.

“Not life-changing,” Will finished. “I promise. And I’ll get to the party as soon as I can.”

“I know,” Nico said, trying hard not to feel disappointed.

“Kind of lame of you though,” he said, trying to put on a brave face. “You were going to be my designer accessory. Now I have to find a watch or something.”  

Will laughed.

“Silk handkerchief in your top pocket?” he suggested. “Colourful socks?”

“It’s like you don’t know me at all.”

The stag party was in Nico’s old bar which, after a brief period of being managed by someone who, if not the devil incarnate, was at least one of their high-ranking associates, had been sold after not making enough profit. Reyna, taking advantage of some money she had come into became the new new owner and had offered them run of the bar for $20 and the promise that Nico would stop being a moron in his relationships and that Jason would get some damn sleep. Even with the building works that came with revamping (which was, naturally, running way behind schedule) it was more fun than drinking in Percy’s dorm room, or Jason’s cramped house share.

Most importantly, even with all the renovations, Reyna had ensured the bar still worked.

Nico was convinced Reyna was an angel sent from heaven when she’d agreed to decorate for them. All she’d asked for was a theme, and Nico had happily supplied Under the Sea. She’d run away with it and given the bar an under-watery feel with silvery strips of paper, blue fairy lights, and tons and tons of cut-outs of smiling sea mammals. Nico had suggested piñatas because there came to a point in any social gathering where whacking something with a stick was a good release for irritation. Reyna, proving she never did anything by halves had found dolphin shaped ones and they hung from the ceiling with the jellyfish lanterns and waves of pearlescent balloons.

Jason, who had never been late to anything in his life prior to about a month ago, was nowhere to be found when Percy arrived. Percy tried to glare when he saw the dolphins but laughed instead. Nico handed him a blue jello shot.

“Jason?” Percy asked.

“No idea,” Nico said. “I’ll text him.”

“Will?” Percy asked, with a shade more sensitivity.

“Had to pick up his brother and drop him off at Cecil’s. I made him promise to get here as soon as possible.”

He noticed Percy was smirking.

“What?”

“You two are more married than Annabeth and I will be.”

Nico scowled, and made a point of ignoring the return of the strange fluttery feeling in his chest.

“Take your shot Jackson,” he said. “Apparently as best man it’s my job to get you wildly drunk.”

“Thought you said no responsibilities,” Percy commented innocently, shot hovering near his lips.

“Since Jason’s flaked out someone’s got to pick up the slack,” Nico grumbled. “And apparently that someone is me.”

Percy grinned. He tried to knock back the shot but apparently hadn’t realised it was jello and ended up with a mouthful of wobbly blue instead. He choked, then glared at Nico’s smirk.

“Shut up,” he said.

Nico just reached out for another shot.

“Drink up.”

Percy's friends began arriving. True to tradition there were all male and true to Nico's tradition of hanging on the edges of parties and not really knowing who anyone was, Nico stood in a corner and realised he didn't really know anyone.

Where was Jason anyway?

It was weird being in the bar and not working, even if the bar looked different under Reyna's care. As Percy played Russian Roulette shot version that someone - Chuck? _Charlie_ \- had brought along he snuck past the partition and stared at the half new and on the way to improved bar. Reyna had a good eye, and if the whole owning her own nightclub thing didn't work out, she could probably make it in interior design. Far from being the fight-a-night dive, it had looked like (and to be fair been) when Nico worked there, Reyna's modifications had given it the kind of class Nico had never thought was possible - the kind of place where you'd expect the barmen to be able to do fancy tricks with the cocktail shakers and maybe set your drink on fire (which ruled him out of getting his old job there back).

She was moving the bar, Nico realised, so it was in front of the tall window. The old floorboards were being restored and booths were being put in around the edges of the room, all brass rails and plush deep purple upholstery. Once Reyna's bar - still unnamed - opened it would probably be the talk of the town, the most popular place for miles around. It deserved to be, and Reyna deserved success. Yet some part of him couldn't help but feel a little melacholoy. It wasn't even that he missed his old job, because he really didn't, but it was _something_. 

There had been a lot of changes and there were a lot more to come. Percy would be married in less than two months. He and Will had been through so much that even though they were more settled now, that stillness felt strange. He kept waiting for something else to blow up.

And given everything that had happened, that wasn't exactly an irrational thing to be expecting.

Nico slipped back past the partition and rejoined the party. Percy, having gained a feather boa and a lovely silver tiara, was at the centre of a circle of friends.

"Nico!" he called, waving in a completely uncoordinated manner that was familiar to anyone who had been around a drunk Percy, and nearly knocking out Connor. "Come sit."

Nico took a seat next to Connor, who was the only person he sort of knew and even then only in a connected to Cecil kind of way.

"We're playing how well does he know the bride," Connor explained.

Nico hadn't put that together so he guessed this was something Jason had done. And where was Jason anyway? Nico pulled out his phone in case he'd missed a text.

"Right first up, and we're starting off easy. When is Annabeth's birthday?"

"12th Jun-ly."

"Jun-ly," someone commented. "My favourite month."

"Mine's Apr-ay," someone else said.

"Shut up!" Percy said. "It's the 12th of July."

"We'll let that one slide," Connor said. "Since you are very drunk and June and July are basically the same month anyway."

There wasn't a text from Jason. And Nico's last one _had_ sent so it wasn't even like Jason didn't know he was ignoring him. 

"Next question," Connor said. His game show host voice was very good and a lot like Cecil when Cecil was screwing around. The two really were quite alike.

"What's Annabeth's middle name?"

"She doesn't have one," Percy said, confidentially.

"Wrong!" Connor said gleefully. "Drink!"

Percy was handed a shot.

"She doesn't have a middle name," he protested.

"She does," Connor said. "It's Jane."

"You're making that up!" Percy said.

"Jane," Connor said again. "I promise you. She said you'd never get it."

Percy groaned and took the shot.

As Connor read out the third question, Nico stood. A couple of curious eyes drifted his way but most of the circle were more interested in Percy's answer to whether or not Annabeth had any piercings.

"Her ears are pierced -" he paused. "Right? Wait are they? Oh my god I don't know whether my fiancé’s ears are pierced."

Nico slipped out into the foyer and dialled Jason's number. He didn't even get through to voicemail. His fingers tapped restlessly against the phone. It was fine. He was probably just driving - except Jason didn't have a car in the city. Okay so his phone had run out of charge and that's why he wasn't answering.

It was weird he wasn't here. It was really weird he wasn't here.

Spine tingling, he dialled Will instead. Will did pick up.

"I'm at the station," Will said. No hello. Will sounded tense. "Austin's here. We're waiting for a taxi."

Austin's here. It sounded less like an Austin's here and more like a _time to hang up now Nico, we'll talk later_. Throat tight, Nico wrapped up the call.

He stood in the foyer, frozen. The last month and a bit had been such a false sense of security. He'd been riding a wave of relief and happiness and now it turned out that wave was actually a tsunami and _you thought you could be happy Di Angelo - hilarious_.

His phone buzzed and he looked down. It wasn't Jason but Will.

_Didn't want to talk in front of Austin. Luke got in contact. Talk in a bit._

On one hand at least Will was being honest. On the other he half wished Will was back to keeping everything surrounding Luke a murky secret.

Deep breaths. Should probably get back into the party and check no one was murdering Percy. It was that sort of a night.

The game was still in full swing when Nico went back in and the small group were cheerfully tipsy while Percy was a uncoordinated wreck. He seemed to be having a good time though and was grinning hugely as he good naturedly took another shot.

"Okay how well do you know Annabeth part two !" Connor exclaimed. "We, and by that I mean Jason, asked Annabeth a bunch of questions. We all have to guess whether she said her or Percy. Losers drink."

"First up! Who is more likely to get injured?"

Everyone began scribbling on a whiteboards. Nico wondered when Jason had roped Connor into being host. When Jason first planned it he'd probably been planning on doing it himself. He was surprised, maybe even a little hurt, Jason hadn't asked him but then Nico had been insistent he didn't want to help with the party.

But that had changed what Jason had.

Come on Jason, pick up your phone. Text back.

"Okay and 3, 2, 1 - turn!"

Everyone showed their boards. In wonky handwriting most people had written Percy. Percy had written _me!!!_

"It was Percy! Well done pretty much everyone. Shame on you Chris! Okay next one, who did Annabeth say was a better driver?"

Over the music and the sounds of scribbling and the whispering and muttering, Nico somehow heard the door. He turned and saw Jason, tired but presentable in a fancy outfit similar to Percy's. Nico expected him to come in, full of apologies for being late but he just hung in the doorway. When he realised Nico was staring at him, he motioned Nico over.

"What?" Nico demanded as soon as he was close enough. Were there hoards of Luke's men outside? Assassins from another source? Space aliens?

"I forgot Percy's cake," Jason said quietly, seeming scandalised.

Nico stared at him.

"Are you kidding me?" he demanded. "You're like an hour late Grace, where the hell have you been?"

Jason sighed and pulled him out the doors.

"Oh."

"Hi Di Angelo."

Thalia sat on one of the tables in the hall, hugging her knees. She looked smaller than Nico remembered, still taller than him, but slight and more vulnerable than he'd expected under her fierce clothing. Her short, choppy hair was dripping wet, her heavy eyeliner was smudged, her ripped jeans were sodden. She had a silvery jacket draped around her shoulders and aside from being pretty much the only part of her that was dry, it looked out of place with the rest of her outfit.

Nico hadn't really seen Thalia since the Bianca thing. He'd never harboured as much hatred for her as he had for Percy but the two hadn't really ever gotten on brilliantly either. There was too much resentment there, mainly on Nico's side.

"Been a while," Nico managed.

Thalia nodded. Her eyes were damp, and maybe her eyeliner wasn't smudged from the rain but from crying.

"I'll stay out of the way," she promised. "I know this is Percy's night."

Jason glanced at her.

"I'm fine," she said. "Go have fun. For Percy."

"You know he wouldn't care if you crashed," Jason said.

"I know," Thalia said. "I'm one of the guys right?"

She let out a short laugh but it sounded a little shaky, a little bitter.

"I'll just bring everyone down," she said. "Go in Jason, I'll be fine out here."

Jason hovered. Thalia was older than him, but his mom instincts were kicking in. Eventually respecting Thalia's obvious desire to be alone, won over his desire to not leave her alone and he followed Nico back into the party.

Nico's phone went off. In seeing Thalia again he'd almost forgotten about Will and Austin and Will's vague references to Luke.

It seemed like it was the kind of night for long-lost siblings.

Nico opened up Will's message.

_On my way to the party. Think I might have panicked you about Luke before? He only wanted us to look out for Thalia. Do we know anyone called Thalia?_

Nico pinched the bridge of his nose. It was definitely going to be one of _those_ nights.

At least Jason was also still sober.


	3. Chapter Two - In a West End Town, a Dead End World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from: West End Girls by the Pet Shop Boys

It had been long enough since Jason had inadvertently betrayed them and or (depending on the point of view) accidentally brought their father down on them, that the wounds had healed over. When Jason and Nico came back in, Percy stumbled to his feet and launched himself at Jason, giving his friend a huge hug. Nico stayed just out of arms length - Percy drunk was a lethal combination of absolutely no coordination and no sense of strength and Nico had come close to death by strangulation more than once. Jason, pretty used to handling Percy drunk extradited himself with ease, and let Percy pull him back into the party circle.

"You're late Jason," Percy complained. "Like really late."

"I know," Jason said. "There was traffic. And I had to pick a couple of people up."

Nico turned rapidly to Jason, alarmed by the "couple". Who else was Jason hiding? Nico couldn't take any more surprises. It had to be bad for his health. Could he get Will to write him a note somehow? _Dear universe, Nico has been through a lot so please excuse him from further surprises or other unpleasantness. Thanks (soon-ish to be) Doctor Solace._

The universe probably wouldn't pay the slightest bit of attention.

Nico was frowning at Jason trying to silently interrogate him on who this mysterious other person was, and if were any more sudden siblings Nico hadn't known about or seen in years he really would scream. Percy missed the entire thing, Jason just looked confused.

Nico's worries were assuaged anyway, when the door banged open and Leo appeared, blowing a party tooter.

"You can start the party now!" he called cheerily. "I am here!"

Leo was attacked in a death hug that nearly had the two of them on the floor.

"I thought you couldn't make it!" Percy was saying.

"Wouldn't miss this," Leo was saying. "Ooh are we playing games?"

Leo and Percy went back to the circle, Leo grabbed a shot from the bar on the way.

"How do you not drink at these things?" Nico demanded. "It's so stressful."

Jason gave him a wry smile.

"No more so than usual with you lot around," he commented. "Besides _you_ can drink. Nothing stopping you. I honestly thought you'd be out of it by now, telling me all about the benefits of nihilism and orange juice or something."

Nico crossed his arms.

"I don't do that," he said.

"Uh-huh," Jason said.

"You know it must be nearly time to meet the girls," Jason continued, completely ignoring Nico’s glares to glance at his watch. Then he frowned distractedly.

"Hey," he said. "Where's Will?"

"Had to pick up a secret brother," Nico said. "He'll be here soon."

"Nico -" Jason began warningly, but Nico cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"I'm not over-thinking," he said.

"I'm _not_ ," he added when Jason seemed unconvinced. "I promised Reyna after all not to be a moron in relationships."

"So you'll listen to _her_?"

Nico scowled.

"I listen to you all the time. Like when you convinced me my boyfriend was a spy -"

Jason held up his hands in defeat and acceptance.

"Only for Russia and even then only at weekends," a familiar voice said. "Hey Jason."

"Hi Will," Jason said. "Will you tell Nico to stop-overthinking and start drinking?"

Will gave Nico a smirky kind of grin. He was stunning of course, but far from bowling him over like it used to it drew an internal eye roll. And okay maybe a small observation about how the colour of his smart-casual shirt really drew out the colour of his eyes. But over-all he was completely jaded to Will's superficial beauty.

"Go get drunk babe," Will said. Pet names and smirks were Will's weapons of choice in sarcasm and arguments and it was unfair they were so effective.

"Why are you still not drunk?" Will continued. "Have you not been to one of these before?  Do you need me to explain what a stag do is for? Because they seem to be largely for getting everyone really drunk."

Nico stared at him.

"Why don't you tell Jason about the text you got from Luke, h _oney_."

Will's smirk flickered back but then he looked more serious.

"Luke," Jason asked. "You've heard from Luke?"

"Only to say someone called Thalia is in trouble."

Jason went kind of pale, eyes flashing to the door as though he could see into the foyer beyond. Nico nudged Will pointedly.

" _Thalia's his sister_ ," he explained in a stage whisper.

Will closed his eyes.

"Well you might have mentioned that before, _sweetie_ , in which case I might have been a bit more gentle with that news."

"It's fine," Jason said though he didn't sound especially fine. He sounded tired, even more tired than he'd been over the last month. "I'm fine. I guessed it must have been something bad. Thalia doesn't usually fall apart like that."

"No," Nico agreed with only a little sulleness. "She gets mad not sad. Anyway you can appreciate why I'm currently still alarmingly sober."

Will gave him an understanding smile.

"When do the girls get here?" he asked Jason, and how did Will know more details about this party than Nico? Were his boyfriend and best friend in cahoots now? Nico wasn't sure he liked that. Next they'd be ganging up on him about his relationship with vegetables or something.

"Any minute," Jason said, glancing at his watch again.

"Percy seems to be having fun at least," Will commented. "Why are all the shots blue?"

"Don't ask," Nico said.

Wil raised an eyebrow.

"Okay well, I don't mean to be insensitive but Luke's message didn't make it seem like danger was imminent. And Percy has been gesturing to us to go over for the last like minute so maybe we should act like we want to be here not aiming that at anyone specific but certain people here have expressions more suitable for a funeral. Not everyone. Certain people. It looks great on you, Love but maybe not the most appropriate."

Nico hit him in the arm, but he had a point. This was Percy's night.

Nico let him and Jason pull him down to where Percy and the others were still playing Percy or Annabeth.

"Last question," Connor called. "And the newcomers and party poopers - looking at you Nico - can join in on this one. Jason I know you don't drink so we got you some blue Gatorade."

"Thanks," Jason said. "I think.”

"Right for the win, who does Annabeth think is the most irresponsible?"

No one even bothered writing.

"Percy!" everyone chorused.

"Hey," Percy protested, but then he shrugged.

"Yeah," he said. "Okay."

The games over, Leo cranked up the sound on the speakers. 

"Let's hit some pinatas!" he yelled.

If his self from a year ago had been told that one day he'd be having fun at Percy's stag do for a marriage that wasn't to him, with a boyfriend in tow there was no way he'd ever have believed it. Things had changed a lot, but maybe they were for the better. Mostly for the better anyway.

Will had glitter on his cheeks and in his hair from the pinatas. He presented Nico with a small packet of haribo. It was largely made up of rings.

"Are you proposing?" Nico asked as he took them. He was sitting up on the bar refusing to dance, and Will was in front of him dancing distractedly as he tried to convince Nico dancing would be fun. Leo had put the playlist together and some of the songs made Nico frown slightly but Will had professed that Leo had good taste which was practically grounds for divorce.

"Proposing?" Will asked, sounding innocently surprised. "So early into the relationship? We have to write letters to each other for at least another two weeks and then you'd have to ask my papa's permission."

"Oh shut up you southern belle," Nico said. "And you don't even know who your papa is."

Will put a hand to his heart, mortally offended.

"How could you say such a thing?" he asked, teasing and over-dramatic. "At least my father is not a criminal overlord."

"That is a very good point my dear," Nico said with a straight face. "But then at least I didn't actively work for him."

Will laughed.

"Come on," he said. "Come dance."

Nico sighed but he actually recognised the song, and Will was so pretty under the flashing lights, glitter sticking to his cheeks like extra stars in the constellations already clustering his face. He slipped down off the bar, bringing a shot with him, letting Will pull him onto the dance floor.

"So what's this one?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"The song?"

"I thought you knew it," Will said. "You started dancing the second it came on."

"That's a lie your honour," Nico said automatically. "Besides you can know a song without knowing the name."

Will shrugged an acquiesce at that. Before he could answer, however, the door burst open and Piper appeared.

"We're here!" she called. She had on a pretty top and a nice pair of shorts over which she wore huge underwear emblazoned with a generic superhero symbol. She had a cowgirl hat all neon pink and bright splotches of cow print lopsided on her head.

"Looks like the girls have been having fun," Will commented wryly. Nico smirked. He'd been around a drunk Piper only once but it had been an experience. He thought the drunk men she'd been hustling drinks out of at the bar were going to kill her when they finally caught on to the fact she was playing them.

"Don't make or take any bets around her," he warned.

Annabeth appeared in the doorway next, a princess crown and veil placed on her head equally lopsided.

"Percy!" she yelled. "Look who's here."

Thalia was close behind, smudgy make up still smudged, hair still ruffled but looking festive in a bright blue feather boa Annabeth had wrapped around her shoulders. Nico might not have gotten on particularly well with her but the glee with which Annabeth introduced her friend made Nico kind of glad she'd shown up, though the circumstances could have been better. Percy scrambled to his feet, rushed over to Thalia.

"Sparks!"

"Water Works," Thalia said. "Heard you were getting married. Notice I didn't get an invitation to the wedding."

Annabeth laughed.

"We had no idea where you were!" she said accusingly. "You're a good one for disappearing. But now you're back you can have the place of honour."

"Hey - " Piper broke in with a cheeky grin. "I thought that was going to me."

"You can have a joint place of honour with Piper. And we can have another hen night. Maybe in Europe. Should we go to Europe? Maybe Paris, I haven't been to Paris. Hey Percy let's go to Paris."

"Sure," Percy said cheerfully, without a real clue about what was going on. "I'll add it to the list."

The rest of Annabeth's friends had intermingled with Percy's. Shots were poured out and taken around for the girls.

"We were dancing," Will said, gently pulling Nico back by the arm.

"That was when I knew the song," Nico said.

Will fixed him with an unimpressed look.

"Everyone knows What is Love."

Nico couldn't really deny that.

"You know I hate dancing," he mumbled but he let Will pull him along anyway and somehow he stayed until the next song and the song after that. He didn't drink much after the first shots and joined Jason on the blue gatorade. Though Will thought Luke didn't think there was much danger, and didn't pose a threat, and though Thalia had shaken off whatever was upsetting her and was dancing happily with Annabeth and Piper, there was a small part Nico couldn't quite relax. Will, he noticed, followed his lead and didn't drink much at all. That was like a knife in Nico's chest: painful and making him go weak at the same time and it made him smile at Will and keep dancing. Will was a good distraction.

At some point Percy and Annabeth's outer circle of friends left, leaving him and Will, Jason and Piper, and Leo, and Thalia. They all sat out on the fire escape, wrapped in coats and various items of fancy dress that had been strewn around the bar. Nico sat back against Will's legs, listening to the music that still played, though more quietly, and watching as the sky turned pale blue and then tinged pink.

The others were talking - reminiscing, making plans - but he was content to listen, Will's fingers intertwined with his.

Tiredness was catching up with him. The others were starting to feel the effects too, but no one wanted to end the party. At some point Nico fell asleep woke again when Thalia and Piper, who had very quickly become best friends, starting singing Country Roads Take Me Home To The Plaaaace -and planning to quit their jobs that second and take a road trip. Leo was going on about all the best things about road trips when Nico's eyes shut again.

Will nudged him awake again when the sun was a yellowing disc just above the horizon.

"Time to go," he said softly.

The others were getting up, collecting their things. In the foyer Jason was organising taxis, trying to count them all and figure out who would be best to ride with who.

"Where are you staying Thalia?"

"With ussss!" Piper said enthusiastically, to both Thalia and Jason's surprise though both accepted it.

"Okay so that means the three of us in one taxi," Jason said.

"Nico you better go with Percy," he continued. That was usually Jason's job but Nico just shrugged.

"And then Will with you as well obviously but then that leaves Leo and Annabeth. Wait where are you staying Leo?"

"He's near me," Annabeth said. "That works."

Jason stared at the both of them, doubtingly. Leo had on a pair of sunglasses and though he was leaning against the wall he was tipping and tilting and he keeled over. Annabeth was swaying happily and in complete contrast to her sober self did not seem very with it at all.

"I'll go with them," Will volunteered, catching Jason's eye with a slight smile. "It's sort of on the way."

Will glanced at Nico and Nico shrugged and nodded.

"I'll see you at home."

Will left first with Leo and Annabeth who were looking most worst for wear. Him and Percy were supposed to be next but then Percy, who had been fiddling with his engagement band, lost the ring and was crawling around looking for it.

"You go," Nico said. "I'll get the ring and the groom into the next taxi."

Jason smirked.

"Practice for the wedding?" he asked.

"I freaking hope not," Nico answered.

Jason grinned and wished him a good night, taking his drunk girlfriend and tipsy sister with him. Nico watched Percy scrabbling around the floor for a moment and then with a sigh got down on his hands and knees and began searching.

"Found it!" Nico said extracting the ring from under the counter. "And that sounds like the taxi."

He handed pulled Percy to his feet and handed him the ring.

"Don't lose it again," he instructed sternly, but his attempts to be authorititive just had Percy giggling.

"You don't do that as much anymore," Percy commented as Nico dragged him towards the door.

"Do what?" Nico asked distractedly.

"Frown," Percy said.

Nico stopped dead, but Percy was too drunk to notice any significance in that.

"I don't know what you mean," he said quietly. He pulled himself together, pulled Percy onwards. 

"I frown all the time," Nico continued. "Look I'm frowning now because you're not walking properly and you're going to pull us both over."

"Sorry," Percy said automatically.

"I'm glad you have Will though," Percy said, apparently reaching the soppy stages of his drunk pattern. Nico was surprised he hadn't gotten there sooner. Nico glanced at his friend, who was frowning in his attempts to put one foot in front of the other. There was no way Percy would remember this conversation in the morning.

"I'm glad too," Nico said softly. "And I'd quite like to get home so if you could hurry it up that would be great."

Percy gave him a sappy grin.

"I love you Neeks," he said. "You're like my favourite little brother."

"Great," Nico said.

Percy frowned.

"Ugh," Nico said. "I love you too. Now for goodness sake the driver is going to drive off without us at this rate."

Percy did make a concentrated effort to hurry up, for all the good it did their pace. It wasn't far to the door but Percy managed to turn it into a marathon. Luckily the car was still waiting, back door open. Nico poured Percy inside and got in after him, yanking the door shut. Nico gave Percy's address and driver moved off without a word.

Nico's eyes were getting heavy again and he kept thinking of collapsing in bed. He had to keep jerking his eyes open, glancing over at Percy to make sure he wasn't making trouble, before sinking back into a sleepy daze. Because he was so out of it, it took him far too long to figure out the car wasn't going the right way.

He frowned, just faintly puzzled at first. They weren't that far from where they should be. Maybe there had been a diversion. When the car took a right when it should have been a left, Nico felt the thrills of dread.

He didn't know what to do, and Percy was too drunk to be any help and drunk enough to be a huge liability. Did he say something to the driver? Maybe the driver had heard the address wrong or -

Or this was deliberate.

He swallowed and pulled out his phone. His battery was flashing low, down in very last dregs of red. He'd taken too many pictures of Percy and Leo for bribery purposes. That would teach him. He would probably only have time for one call, or one message. Who did he reach out for? The police? Jason? Will? They should really have a group chat for these kind of problems - help we've been kidnapped.

An incoming text from Jason made up his mind. Jason was clearly by his phone.

He tapped out a quick message - probably incoherent in his hurry to get it sent before the battery died. After it was sent he opened up his and Will's thread but the screen went black, the little charge symbol taunting him when he stabbed at the screen.

Nico glanced at the driver, a dark figure behind the glass, and then to Percy. He was staring out the window, apparently oblivious to everything, half mumbling half singing. It was that song, the one he'd first got up to dance to. Will had never gotten to tell him what it was. What if Nico got murdered now and Will never got to tell him and he'd die not knowing and Will wouldn't know what happened to him.

No need to panic though.

He nudged Percy gently.

"Have you got your phone?" he asked.

Percy rummaged in his pockets then shook his head.

"I think Jason might have had it. Or Annabeth. Or Leo took it at one point and was recording some monologue about -"

Nico tuned out. Great. Just great. They were trapped in a taxi with a possible mad-mass murderer and/or one of Luke's minions or someone from Jason's father which all really probably amounted to the same thing. And neither of them had a working phone.

Though he could still feel tiredness, it was held at bay by the tension coiled in him. When the car stopped he threw open the door, intending to pull Percy out with him, to make a run for it. Percy was entangled with his seat belt and didn't have enough urgency for it to work. As the driver opened his door, Nico raced around the car, opened up Percy's door.

"This isn't my house," Percy observed, reasonably calmly though there was an undercurrent of awareness rising to the surface. He was beginning to look alarmed.

"Hurry up," was all Nico said.

Percy turned back to his seat belt. Nico sensed someone behind him and he turned, too quickly. They'd come to a stop on a dirt driveway, muddy and slippery and his foot had caught on a rock. He went down, trying to catch at the door to save him but it swung in throwing him even more off balance. He was aware of a sharp pain as he hit his head on something and then there was black. 


	4. Chapter Three - Let's Take a Ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title taken from Suburbia by The Pet Shop Boys

Years Ago

Nico was glaring at Bianca. She was ignoring him, calmly, and continued packing her bag. Thalia sat up on the window sill, watching the two of them with a slightly tense posture as though prepared for a storm, while Percy had stayed downstairs talking awkwardly to the housekeeper.  The new girl - Zoe - was sitting on Bianca's bed, still as a statue and staring into the middle distance.

"I'm only a couple of years younger than you," Nico pointed out.

Bianca sighed.

"I don't make the rules," she said trying hard to stay gentle. Nico just scowled.

She got why Nico was mad. The two hadn't really been apart since their mom had died and had been pretty much the only constants each other had, boarding school to boarding school. Being a constant was kind of a pressure and in making sure Nico didn't break after their mom's death she'd forgotten to make sure _she_ didn't break. She was pretty sure the cracks were obvious. They _must_ be obvious, even though she tried to hide them, but Nico seemed oblivious. She was as she'd always been: Bianca, big sister and substitute mom.

She just wanted a week.

She got the feeling Thalia wanted a week too. She'd disappeared months before and Bianca hadn't heard from her for at least a year before that. She'd suddenly turned up again just after school ended with her hair cut and different clothes and an intensity in her that said there was a story she wasn't planning on sharing there. Bianca didn't push and Thalia didn't start with the whole _so sorry about your mom_ thing so their relationship survived the intermittent years and with relief Bianca accepted Thalia's suggestion for a road trip.

Percy was coming too and someone called Zoe who knew Thalia from school. The two didn't seem to get on which made Bianca question why Zoe was along for the ride.

"Why can't you just stay here and go to the zoo or something," Nico was saying.

"It's a week," Bianca said through teeth gritted against the urge to snap. "What could happen in a week?"

"You could get attacked by a giant robot or a space alien or -"

Bianca fixed him with a glare and this time he did break off.

"Why don't you go rescue Percy?" Thalia said, intervening. Nico started, probably having forgotten Thalia was there, but after an irritated scowl he did slope off, shoulders slumping. Bianca felt bad and made a note to make it up to him after the trip. Maybe they would go to the zoo.

It was just a week. Nico would survive a week. The latest housekeeper - Mrs M - looked a little dragon like and if Bianca found out she could breath fire she wouldn't be surprised given the ferocity of her snorts whenever the two of them did something she disapproved of. But she wouldn't let Nico starve and Nico would probably get caught up in his comics and his games and forget Bianca was even missing.

She folded another shirt.

"You know it's only a week right?" Thalia teased.

Bianca folded her arms and glared at her.

"It's best to be prepared," she said with a high and mighty air that made Thalia recognise the dig at her own organisational skills. Bianca got her teddy bear thrown at her for the effort.

"It would help," she continued, "if I knew exactly where we were going. Am I packing for a skiing trip or the beach?"

"We're not skiing," Thalia said with a shudder. "Hurling myself off a mountain with bits of wood strapped to my feet? No thanks."

Bianca had been skiing once with one of her schools. Her father paid for the trip for the two of them, thinking they'd enjoy it. Nico had, but Bianca agreed with Thalia's assessment of the sport. She'd wanted to stay in the warm hotel where there was hot chocolate and a fire, but she'd actually followed Nico around and made sure he didn't hurt himself in his over-enthusiasm or get lost down the slopes.

"I'll take out the salopettes then," Bianca joked, putting a last pair of leggings into the bag and zipping it up.

"Teddy?" Thalia suggested, slipping off the window sill and offering Bianca the bear she'd thrown. Bianca shook her head. Thalia put the bear back on Bianca's bed, propping him against the pillow.

"I'm ready," Bianca said.

“’bout time," Thalia said. "Let's get out of here. Do you think your brother managed to get Percy away?"

"If he hasn't we should leave without him," Bianca said. "If he's too long in the clutched of Mrs M he'll never escape."

Thalia laughed.

Percy had escaped from Mrs M, only to be captured by Nico who was holding him hostage with a series of rapid fire questions.

"We're ready!" Thalia called. "Roadtrip awaits."

Zoe went out first, walking to the car in silence. Thalia had said she'd explain Zoe later. Later still hadn't arrived.

Nico was sulking and Bianca was pretty sure she wasn't going to get a goodbye out of him, but she tried anyway.

"It's only a week," she said. "I'll be back before you know it!"

Nico, fiddling with one of his action figures scowled down at it, but otherwise didn't respond. Percy glanced between Bianca and Nico, and gave Bianca a half sympathetic, half rueful smile. He was waiting at the door, hovering with an uncertain expression.

"I'll call every day if you want."

"Don't want you to call at all."

That didn't really surprise her. Nico still hadn't looked at her. She'd known he'd be mad, had expected that but while talking to Percy he seemed to have bypassed mad and moved on to completely and utterly betrayed.

"I'll bring you back a present," she said trying to cheer him up, and then she closed her eyes. She sounded just like their father.

"You sound just like father," Nico said. "Go away. I don't want any presents."

There was nothing more she could say. She left the room, passing Percy. To her surprise he stayed in the doorway. As she was walking towards the front door, footsteps clattering on the hall tiles she heard Nico say something to Percy but couldn't quite make out the words. Percy responded, quietly, and then he was following Bianca down the hall.

"He'll come round," Percy said.

"Yeah," Bianca agreed. "It's just hard leaving him when he's like this. It's just us two. When he's mad at me it's then just me and that gets -"

"Lonely."

"Yeah."

"Hurry up you two!" Thalia called from the drivers seat of the car. At least she wasn't banging on the horn yet. Percy threw his bag in the trunk, Bianca followed suit.

"How long has she had her license?" Bianca asked.

"About a month," Percy said.

"Should we be worried about that?" Bianca asked.

Percy gave her a wry grin.

In actual fact Thalia's driving wasn't so bad. There was one terrifying braking situation where Thalia had cursed wildly as a car pulled out right in front of her, panicked and threw the car to the right before coming to a sudden stop. Zoe had shrieked and dropped her phone. Bianca and Percy had been hurled forward and given the Heimlich on the way.

Other than that small incident, the ride was fairly smooth. With the radio on, and a steady supply of snacks (those that hadn't been flung around the car when Thalia had performed her emergency stop) speeding out of the city felt like a weight leaving her, like she could breathe again.

By lunchtime the novelty of the open road was starting to wear off as her stomach began to grumble. Though they found themselves in civilisation, every restaurant, drive through, cafe or even gas station where they could pick up a stale sandwich, had disappeared, apparently shuffling back away from the road when they drew near. Percy, Bianca and Zoe had been assigned look out duty as Thalia drove round and round and occasionally one of them would yell out, only to admit they'd been mistaken.

"There must be something," Thalia said as they were stopped at a red light. "I refuse to believe that no one in this damn town eats."

"Maybe they are all really ghosts," Bianca said musingly. "And they don't need to eat."

"Dark B," Thalia commented. "But getting more plausible by the minute."

"Doesn't have to be ghosts," Percy interjected. "Could be robots."

"Aliens who do not need human style sustenance," Zoe offered, surprising them.

"I'd settle for alien sustenance at this point," Thalia grumbled. "And is it just me or has this light been red for the last century at least?"

"It's the town reminding you it hates you," Percy said.

The light changed and Thalia pulled away fasted than any of them had expected. Bianca lost her grip on the bag of popcorn she'd been holding and the contents spiralled through the air.

"That was the last of the food," Percy commented. "So now we're basically all going to die."

"Or we could go to McDonalds," Zoe suggested.

She pointed, Thalia swerved suddenly to take the road leading to mixed yelps, screams and whoops of joy.

She swung into a space, not caring how crooked the car was and they all bundled out and piled into McDonalds. The guy behind the counter wasn't much older than they were, and he didn't seem at all perturbed to see the four of them crashing in. It was probably par for the course. The order went on Thalia's dad's credit card and Thalia seemed to take a kind of vicious glee in the fact that all of them completely overestimated how much they could eat when she saw the order total.

The smell of fast food had never been so good. Her fingers were greasy, her mouth burnt from her first mouthful of french fry when she'd been too impatient to wait for them to cool. The cheese burger was the best thing she'd ever eaten. Her father didn't often allow fast food, her mother had been even worse. Mrs M classed pre-chopped veg as junk food. Sitting and eating McDonalds with friends was a luxury she had seldom got.

She wondered what Nico was eating back at home and felt guilty. Her fingers twitched for her phone, but pushing him too early would make things worse. She kept it in her pocket and focused her attention on the others, trying to claw back that bubble of happiness that was so new and so fragile.

Zoe was tucking into the biggest burger McDonalds had, which somehow seemed like an odd contrast to her aloof, prim and proper exterior. Thalia and Percy were singing along to the music. Thalia apparently had a thing for dipping her fries in her McFlurry which Percy was judging her for.

"It's Luke's fault, he -" Thalia began but then she broke off and went quiet. Her bubble had been burst too.

"Have you ever tried it with milkshake. Remember Grover? He swears by it."

Thalia, distracted, launched into a conversation about the various merits of milkshakes verses McFlurries. Zoe was frowning at them both like they were both heathens. Things settled.

As they left town Thalia stopped for gas and to stock up on more snacks. Percy and Bianca ran through the shelves collecting up items for the shelves, while Zoe walked behind them with an expression eerily similar to a long-suffering adult in charge. Percy had an affinity for anything blue, Bianca preferred savoury or chocolate. Zoe picked up a couple of healthy looking bar things with seeds on but then her eyes went wide when she saw a giant pack of gummy bears. She cast a guilty look around and then snatched them up. Bianca caught her eye and grinned.

Back in the car, now they weren't close to starvation, spirits were restored. Percy had claimed shotgun. After ten minutes of trying to hook his phone up to the car stereo with Bianca and Zoe calling out tips from the back and Thalia giving conflicting advice from the driver’s seat, Percy conquered the system and became the car DJ.

As heavy guitars flooded the car, opened up the window and felt the breeze on her face, her hair whipping around her cheeks. There was something about driving fast that she loved, the sensation of getting away, of going somewhere. She'd seldom had occasion to just be driven before, to just go and be free.

"I'm taking requests," Percy said, pulling the ipod out of Thalia's reach as she tried to reach for it while keeping her eyes on the road and one hand on the wheel. "For the next five seconds."

The car exploded with bands and song names.

"Green Day, you have to put on some Green Day -"

"Ironic -"

"The Clash!"

"Hells Bells, Sympathy for the Devil -"

"That song with the bit that goes like -"

Percy held up his hand.

"Didn't get any of that," he said cheerfully. "I'll give it my best guess though."

Bianca threw a cheeto at his head, Thalia booed. Turned out Percy wasn't a bad DJ though, even if his tastes jumped around genres. He did put on Ironic, which had them all singing and gesturing at the top of their lungs, and some Green Day to shut Thalia up as well as More than a Feeling. As the evening wore in and the journey turned into darkness punctuated by car lights, the music became more sedate. Bon Iver was sober at the best of times, but Bianca's eyes were heavy and her blinks got longer.

"I don't know where we are," Thalia said suddenly.

"Is that a problem?" Percy asked yawning.

"It is if you were hoping to sleep in a bed," Thalia answered.

Bianca had been hoping to sleep in a bed. Percy groaned and pulled a map out, switching on the car light so he could see better.

"Do you know how to read that?" Thalia asked, sounding almost impressed.

"It's upside down," Zoe commented from behind Percy.

Percy turned the map the right way up.

"We're going to sleep in this car," Thalia said. "I can see it now."

"Hey," Percy protested, but he didn't deny anything.

"Give the map to Zoe."

Percy handed it over without complaint. Zoe flattened it out as best she could, while Bianca shone her phone over the paper.

"Not to cast aspersions on your driving," Zoe began slowly.

"Cast as many aspersions as you went," Percy said. Thalia thumped him without taking her eyes off the winding road.

"I have no idea where we are," Zoe admitted. "Are there any road signs?"

The four of them looked out the window at the darkness, punctuated by the outlines of trees.

"We might be sleeping in this car," Zoe said.

They carried on but saw no signs and nothing to indicate they might be coming up on a town. When Thalia started yawning she pulled over. The sky was dark, properly dark, like it never was in the city and studded with thousands upon thousands of stars that shone clear and bright. The air was cool, smelt of pine and earth. As she leant against the car, Zoe came to stand next to her, began pointing out constellations.

Percy was already curled up in the back seat, under one of his hoodies. He was snoring softly. Thalia was sitting on the bonnet staring up at the sky. She stayed there when Bianca and Zoe got back into the car and settled down to sleep. When Bianca woke an indeterminate time later she was still out there. Bianca wrapped her jacket around herself and joined Thalia.

"Aren't you cold?" Bianca asked. The coolness of the evening had settled into a deep chill. Thalia did have a silvery coat around her, but she still must have been freezing.

"A little I guess," Thalia replied.

She was quiet a moment more.

"Hey B?"

"Uh-huh?"

"I might have misled you slightly about this road trip."

Bianca figured there must have been a story. There was a pause while Thalia gathered herself and then, suddenly and without looking away from the sky she took a deep breath and launched into speaking.

"I had this friend," she said. She was speaking quietly, but hurriedly and the words stumbled over themselves as she forced them out. "Hal. He was a bit of a nightmare but he was fun you know and he didn't mean to get in so much trouble."

She paused, pursed her lips.

"I had this other friend too," she said and her voice had dropped another couple of decibels. "Luke. He was great. My dad thought he was a bad influence though. Hated me hanging around him. Eventually he sends me off to boarding school and at first I thought it was just because he finally got fed up of Luke. But then I start to wonder because that night we were at this party but we lost Hal and when we went to look for him we came across this warehouse. And there was nothing in it so like it shouldn't have been a big deal, but my dad was furious when he found out we'd been there."

Thalia shifted her weight, bringing her knees up to her chest.

"I don't know where Luke is now," she said. "Haven't seen him in about a year. Hal seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. And I've got to know. I just need to set my mind at rest about that stupid warehouse because if anything's happened to them -"

She broke off and shook her head.

"That sounds crazy right?"

Bianca shook her head. She didn't trust herself to speak. Thalia was prickly, a hard-coated candy that no matter how sweet it was on the inside still had the hard bit on the outside. Thalia wasn't often so candid.

"It's probably nothing," Thalia said. "But what if it's not, you know? Because maybe Hal wandered off somewhere and got distracted but Luke wouldn't just stop talking to me. He wouldn't. Not Luke."

"So what are we really doing?" Bianca asked.

Thalia glanced at her and gave her a quick, grateful grin.

"You?" she said. "Nothing. You're on a road trip. Only way I could cover in case my dad asked. But you're not getting involved."

"Thalia!" Bianca protested, but Thalia just shook her head.

"I mean it B," she said. "You're here to like look at giant balls of wool and gasp at museum exhibits and complain about my driving and the fact we got lost and had to sleep in the middle of nowhere in what looks like serial killer territory."

"Thanks for that imagery," Bianca said. "I don't think I will sleep now."

Thalia laughed, cut herself off when Zoe stirred slightly in the car.

"We should probably try," she said. "Or I should. I've got to drive tomorrow."

"Very sensible," Bianca said with a solemn nod.

Thalia gave her a questioning glance.

"What?"

"Not often you're the responsible one T."

"Just because I went to a few parties -"

"Lots," Bianca interjected.

"And got a few detentions."

"A few?"

"And had fun for once," Thalia said. "And suddenly I'm the irresponsible one? Honestly I'm hurt."

She laughed, shortly. 

"Maybe Luke was a bad influence," she added philosophically. "But you know what he was a whole lot less toxic than my family."


	5. Chapter Four - You Didn't Phone When You Said You would

It had been a couple of months since Will nearly died, many more months since he’d last had a period of sleep uninterrupted by dreams. Nico woke up disorientated, with a splitting headache. When he opened his eyes all he saw was light, burning bright, and fierce. He screwed his eyes shut and forced down the bile that rose up in his throat. He tried to sit up but his body was slow to respond and movement made the darkness behind his screwed up eyes swim. He clamped his jaw shut, refusing to throw up.

"Whoa!" someone said.  He was caught by the shoulder, was steadied where he'd been tipping. Nico didn't recognise the voice and he flinched back from the touch.

"It's alright," the person said. They sounded pleasant, the voice rich and warm, deliberately soothing like Will's was when he thought Nico was being over-dramatic about how ill he was.

 _Will_.

Will would be at home and Nico was here - wherever here was. His throat was tight with panic now, as memories began flooding his head. The party, getting in the taxi. Percy. Where was Percy?

"Lie back down," he was instructed, a gentle touch on his shoulder guiding him back. Nico fought back, forcing himself to stay upright. He tried to speak but his tongue was thick and clumsy. He couldn't form words properly.

"You had a nasty fall and hit your head," the voice continued, measured. "You need to rest."

"Percy?" he tried.

"Has been sent home."

Nico didn't know if he believed that. He tried to open his eyes again, and this time he could manage staring into the light for two seconds before he had to snap them closed. In that time he saw whoever was in front of him, a darkish, hazy shadow blocking out the piercing white. He briefly wondered if he were dead. That would make sense of the brightness but not of the pain. Presumably pain vanished in the afterlife.

Unless he'd gone to hell.

"Nico." A new voice, one that he did recognise. It was accompanied by echoing footsteps on hard floors. "Lie down."

Nico lay down. More footsteps and he got the impression both of them had moved away now. He heard his father's voice, the unknown voice replying but they were too far away to make out the actual words.

He was tired.

His father might be bad news, but he wasn't the kidnapped by Luke, or Jason's dad level of bad news Nico had expected. He let the world float away from him.

The next time he woke he could open his eyes and recognise the coach he was lying on, and the room he was in as the front reception room of his father's house. It was cold and impersonal and used pretty much as a waiting room for people his father didn't really want to see. Nico didn't know what that said about him.

He was alone this time. The thick curtains at the tall windows were open, letting daylight into the room. He wasn't sure how long he'd slept for. He needed to contact Jason, Will. They must be so worried.

He searched through his pockets, but couldn't find his phone. He twisted, putting his feet down on the cold marble floor, wrapping the blanket that had been over him around his shoulders. His father couldn't just take his phone. Nico wasn't twelve anymore and -

He saw it on one of the side tables, plugged in to a charger and he was forced to take back his mental tirade. He turned the phone on, watched the notifications flash messages from Jason, Will, Percy. He opened Jason's first, saw the immediate panic turn into a message saying Nico's father had contacted him and how did Nico manage to be the one who got injured when he was sober? Percy's text was a slightly incoherent and took some translating before Nico got that Percy was trying to let him know he got home okay and was wishing him luck with his father.

He opened Will's last. Jason had contacted him, so he wasn't as worried as he could have been, but Nico could read between the lines. Nico had been ignoring his father for a month or so. The fact they'd been thrown together again didn't bode well, and Will knew that.

He tried calling Will, but the phone rang out. He shrugged and hung up instead of leaving a voicemail. He'd try again later.

The effort of getting his phone was almost too much and he had to sit back down on the hard-backed couch. He drew patterns in the velvet as he sipped at the glass of water he presumed had been left for him. It didn't do much to immediately soothe his aching head, but it did make his throat feel a little less dry.

He had money, probably enough to get him home so while in theory he could walk out the front door, he was reluctant. Partly he just wanted to make his father get him home, whether that was paying for a taxi or having him driven Nico didn't care but it was his father's fault he was here and he didn't see why he should get himself home. He was also wary. Luke had got in contact with Will, Thalia had turned up. Now his father wanted to talk to him. Something was going on and he couldn't go home before finding out what it was, however much he'd been enjoying living in the land of denial.

Footsteps prepared him for having to face his father. He was as imposing as ever when he swept into the room, dressed in his customary all-black. He had a pallor in his cheeks though - his complexion, always pale, had never really recovered from the poisoning incident.

He looked over Nico, expressionless and Nico had to once again play the guessing game called _what was his father thinking now_. Over two decades and he still wasn't very good at it.

"How are you feeling?"

Nico shrugged.

"Why did you kidnap me?" he asked. His voice was raspy.

"I didn't kidnap you," his father started but Nico glared and his father actually shut up.

"I thought it was Luke taking me. Or Jason's father. I thought Percy and I were going to die."

His father actually seemed to acknowledge that, and inclined his head.

"I apologise," he said. "That was not my intention. And I would have had you taken home, but -"

He paused.

"Perhaps we should talk about this upstairs."

It was an admonish and for a second Nico was confused because he hadn't retaliated. But then he saw the house keeper out in the hall, arms full of towels, duck her head and move on.

Nico had to use the banister to haul himself up the stairs. His father walked sedately beside him, never seeming frustrated at the pace. That was one way in which he was a better person than Nico - Nico had been unable to ungrit his teeth when walking beside a slow Percy only the night before. When Nico stumbled, his father gently caught him by the elbow, keeping him steady.

His father held open the door to his study - a room Nico had never been allowed in before. When he and Bianca were little they'd imagined all sorts of things to be behind the door, jewels, gold, skeletons, monsters. But it was just a boring office, no trace of treasure. It was almost cosy though, thick piled rugs on the floor and warm orange lamps uplighting grey walls. Nico took a seat in the armchair, his father went to stand at window.

"There are spies in my house," his father said, not turning. He was so matter of fact, but Nico felt a thrill of shock. People shouldn't have spies in their house. That wasn't real. None of this was real. "But we won't be overheard up here."

"I know you do not want to get involved," his father continued. "And I've respected that. I made it clear you had nothing to do with any of our business. Made it clear you weren't to be hurt. But Jason's father mistrusts me. He always has but things have gotten worse since I stopped him killing your Will."

Nico pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders. He didn't like reminders of walking into their house and seeing the gun pointed at Will's head. He saw it almost every night. Sometimes when he was opening the door he was scared he'd walk in and see it happening all over again. Or worse, finding out it had already happened. He saw blood on the carpets, heard gunshots more often than he cared to admit.

Okay so maybe he hadn't really repressed everything about finding out his father was involved in some kind of shady gang war. Maybe things weren't quite as peaceful in his head as he tried to tell himself they were.

He honestly didn't know how Will was coping with still living in the apartment. Nico hadn't brought it up though, because the fact Will had nearly died was one of those things they were both trying to forget.

"He thinks that I'm moving against him," Nico's father continued. His voice was so measured it made Nico want to scream. "I don't think he has decided whether I'm working with Luke or not, but he is sure I'm going to overthrow him and he is sure that you are part of that plot. He's suspicious of Percy too, though less so. Percy didn't have any direct links to Will and therefore to Luke."

"This is insane."

Nico's father sighed. He finally came away from the window.

"I've not lived a blameless life," he said. "None of us three have. But it shouldn't have ever impacted you."

"Weren't you all friends once?" Nico said. "Can't you all just - I don't know make up."

It sounded ridiculous as he said it and it actually brought a very brief smile to his father's face.

"We were," he agreed. "In fact, I owe Jason's father a very great debt. But he has forgotten that. He's forgotten that it wouldn't make sense for me to move against him. He's paranoid and he's afraid."

Nico scoffed.

"Well he's an idiot," he said. "Will hasn't got anything to do with this. I haven't got anything to do with this. I don't even know what _this_ is."

"You don't need to tell me. But you do need to be careful. Jason is going to have to make some choices about his loyalties over the next few weeks. Be careful of him."

"Of Jason?" Nico was incredulous.

But then Jason was tired, overworked. He was different. More guarded. Nico swallowed.

"This is insane," he said again. "Insane."

He didn't get a response, but Nico got the impression that his father agreed.

Nico was not entrusted to a taxi. The taxi Nico and Percy had taken last night had taken them off course, and what would have happened if Nico’s father hadn’t happened to have been trying to contact Nico at the same time Nico didn’t know. But the car his father sent pulled up seconds after the taxi left and, probably knowing the kind of trouble he could get in if he didn’t pick Nico up, the driver had followed the taxi. A good thing as it turned out.  

His father's driver was the silent type and Nico was left to his racing thoughts and his pounding head. He'd never wanted to be home so badly, even if home sometimes echoed with gun fire and smelt of phantom blood. Will was sitting on the kitchen counter, stirring a mug of soup. He looked over it as Nico dragged himself in.

"Did you have a nice kidnapping?" Will asked, blowing the soup.

Nico glared at him. He felt a sob rise in his chest and tried to choke it down, but Will saw. He frowned and jumped down. He caught Nico as he rushed towards a chair, overcome with dizziness and together they made it to the sofa.

Will waited while Nico battled his instincts to keep everything back.

"Jason's dad is screwing everything up," Nico eventually managed.

"Yeah," Will agreed. "He does seem like a nightmare. His guys once shot at Ethan. That was touch and go."

He paused.

"I mean Ethan was trying to steal plans for this new building thing, everyone was weirdly interested in but -"

Nico was at him.

"What?" Will said.

"You know a lot," Nico said slowly.

Will moved back slightly, suddenly slightly defensive.

"No," Nico said. "I mean that in a good way. My father said Jason's dad thinks we're a threat and he'll try and turn Jason against us. But if we know what we shouldn't know, we can avoid being a threat. We can avoid everything."

Will frowned, unsure.

"I guess," he said. "But I just caught snatches here and there. I don't know how much I can help."

The _I don't know if I want to_ was unsaid. Like Nico, Will seemed to want to put what had happened before firmly behind them.

"Anything is better than nothing," Nico said determinedly. "We just need to figure out what Jason's father wants and then -"

Will was pale. He got up completely and began pacing, restless.

"Nico," he said tightly.

"You must remember something -" Nico urged. "Anything that can help us I don't want -"

" _I_ don't want to remember," Will burst out.

Nico shut his mouth.

Okay so maybe Will was also not quite as good at repressing what had happened as he appeared to  be.

"Alright," Nico said. "It doesn't matter. We'll just focus on work and being completely non-threatening and maybe it will all go away."

Will scowled at him, but Nico hadn't been being sarcastic.

"Yeah," Will said darkly. "Maybe."

The next morning Nico slept in. He woke several times and each time went back to sleep again, where the world was dark and safe and he didn't have to think. He dreamt and for once his dreams were nonsensical and non-threatening.

When he woke to the smell of pizza he was tempted, for the first time, to get out of bed. He stayed where he was for a moment but the smell was overpowered and he got up. Will had reheated the veggie supreme from last night, and was sitting at the breakfast bar with a notebook in front of him. At first Nico thought he was working, so he didn't say anything to distract him, just snatched a piece of pizza from Will's plate. Will batted at his hand distractedly, but he was smiling.

Nico ate his slice in silence, watching as Will wrote. The TV was on in the background because Will couldn't deal with silence, and Nico half listened to the news.

"You were right," Will said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"About me knowing stuff."

Nico still looked confused.

"Luke," Will said. "It's not much but maybe it will help."

He passed the notebook to Nico who took it reverently.

"You didn't have to -"

"No," Will said. "I did. Just because I don't want to get involved doesn't mean people are going to leave us alone. You were right: if we can figure out what’s going on we can avoid it. Maybe even end it."

He shrugged.

"I wrote down everything I could remember."

Nico cast his eye down the page. Will had done his best with dates but a lot of them were vague. His observations were largely from the point of view of who had been hurt and how, but sometimes he'd heard parts of conversations, been told things about the group’s activities. Nico was surprised at some of the stuff Luke had revealed. Will had only been there half-heartedly, but Luke seemed to have trusted him. Luke was savvier than that, at least in the one conversation Nico had had with him.

He flipped over to the next page, travelling back in time. He froze as he saw _mom_.

"Will," he said softly.

"Everything I can remember," Will said again. "It might not be connected but anything could help, right?"

Nico swallowed, tapped his fingers against the counter as he tried to form words of comfort, but also a potentially hurtful question.

"My dad might know a little bit more about what happened," Nico said, trying to avoid using the words mom and killed in weird circumstances. "If you want to -"

Will's lips were tight, bloodless.

"I don't know," he said, forcing the words out.

Nico nodded. He got that. There were days he wanted nothing more than to figure out what happened to Bianca, but most of the time he just wanted it to stay buried in the past. Dragging it all up again would only hurt more. Bianca was gone. He'd just about forgiven Percy for his involvement in that stupid road trip and if he worked hard enough maybe he'd be able to forgive Thalia. He didn't need to know what happened. He didn't need to hurt anymore.

Let those skeletons stay in that closet.

"Thanks," Nico said quietly, a little uselessly. "You really didn't have to."

Will nodded. He'd closed himself off but this time Nico didn't push, though the distance hurt.

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt," he said.

He got up, conversation clearly over and went to sit on the sofa apparently completely invested in the news. The room suddenly felt a whole lot bigger and a whole lot emptier.

Nico ran a finger down Will's list, all the times his mom was mentioned, or Kayla or Austin jumping out, and each time was like a little stab in the vicinity of his chest. His ears echoed with a gunshot and he dropped the notebook with shaking fingers.

He went to sit by Will. The news presenter was talking in sombre tones about a murder.

"Film?" Nico suggested.

Will turned to him with a faint smile.

"You going to let me pick?"

Nico pretended to consider that.

"I don't know," he said. "Have you developed any taste since you last chose?"

Will threw a handy cushion at him.

"Les Mis is a masterpiece," he protested. "It won awards."

"From who?"

"I don't know," Will admitted. "People."

Nico gave him a look.

"I'm googling it," Will said, bringing out his phone.

"Awards are all political anyway," Nico said. "Doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah," Will said scornfully. "But you liked Batman verses Superman. I can't trust anything you say."

"Oh you want to go there do you? Because I seem to remember you saying how the first Hulk film was underrated. _The first Hulk film_."

"It is!" Will exclaimed. "And when I said you needed to catch up with Pop culture I meant good pop culture not misery Batman and that film with the laser."

"What are you even talking about?" Nico demanded. "What film with the laser? You know what it doesn't matter just put on a film Solace, and I'll sit here and silently judge you."

"Be fine if it was silent," Will retorted, but he switched over to netflix and starting browsing.

The room was still heavy, but as the opening to Cinderella, one of the many Disney films Nico still hadn't seen, began to play it was just that little bit lighter.


	6. Chapter Five - Choose the Perfect Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title From Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) by The Pet Shop Boys

It really had been a long time since Nico had had a decent night’s sleep.

"Hey! Wake up!"

Nico groaned. He thought he answered but he may have only managed to make a whimpering sound because Will caught his shoulder gently.

"Nico!" he called, his voice much less gentle. "Wake up. And don't look at me like that, it's ten which is a perfectly normal time to be awake at."

Nico had been scowling mostly unconsciously and now he consciously deepened his scowl. Will didn't take any notice and continued acting in the same cheery, happy good-morning world manner that made Nico fall for him in the afternoon and evenings and want to stab him in the mornings after he'd just woken up.

"I work nights," he protested.

"I don't think coming home at ten because you were having coffee with Reyna counts as working nights."

Since Nico didn't have to pay for accommodation he'd been taking some time out to figure out exactly what the hell he was doing with his life. Reyna had taken advantage of his unemployment to use him as a consult on the new bar. Sometimes she paid him cash and sometimes she paid him in coffee and Nico was equally happy with both pay scales.

Nico grumbled again, his response unintelligible and even he wasn't sure what he was trying to say so he couldn't really claim to be surprised when Will just ignored him.

"Get up," he instructed. "I made pancakes and there's fresh coffee."

It was so easy to hate Will being a morning person but then he did things like make Nico breakfast and it was sweet and made Nico hate him even more because he was _too_ good and that was insanely frustrating.

Nonetheless when Will padded away Nico did get up, albeit slowly, and collected clothes. He cranked the heat on the shower up to the full and stayed under the water until the bathroom was lost in steam, like a hidden jungle. He drew faces on the mirror as he towelled his hair as dry as the bathroom would let it go, watched as they almost instantly vanished again as the steam condensed back onto the glass.

The pancakes and coffee smelt heavenly and also very slightly of bribery. He couldn't quite figure out Will's motives for waking him, or for luring him away from bed with breakfast like he was some woodland creature being tempted towards a trap. He wasn't one to turn away free food however, even bribery food.

He took two pancakes, then a third, poured himself coffee. There was fresh orange juice he ignored, homemade granola, a basket of freshly made muffins, pastries and bread rolls, a fruit salad Will had made so there was no apple and little to no banana which was the way a fruit salad should be. There was also a separate punnet of strawberries and a pot of champagne flavoured cream.

"Are we celebrating?" Nico asked slowly staring at the array as he took a bite of pancake. It had gone slightly cold because he'd spent so long in the shower, but it was still fluffy and light and utterly delicious. Will didn't often cook, didn't often have the time, but when he did his food was excellent.

Will paused with his fork halfway to his mouth.

"Celebrating?" he asked innocently. "Are we?"

"That's what I'm asking you," Nico said.

"I don't think so," Will said. "Unless there's anything you want to tell me?"

If Nico didn't know his boyfriend better he might have been convinced that was the loaded part of this breakfast. But he did know Will better and though the question had weight it wasn't the purpose of this breakfast.

"Reyna and I settled on Midnight Purple for the menus," Nico suggested.

"Congratulations," Will answered very seriously, toasting Nico with his glass of orange juice.

"I heard Cecil was looking for work," Will added.

Nico stared at him.

"Great," he said. "Will why are we making small talk like a middle aged couple in a cheesy movie?"

"Pardon?"

"You know exactly what I mean. What's going on?"

Will shrugged.

"Just thought we should be living life to the full. I mean yesterday I had no breakfast and reheated pizza for brunch."

"Reheated pizza is practically a food from heaven," Nico said sternly, pointing at Will with his fork. "And I won't have you knocking it."

"Okay," Will admitted. "Maybe you're right, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We should be doing it right."

Nico narrowed his eyes.

"No that's not it," he said. "This isn't one of your healthy eating phases that will last half a week. This is something else. Come on, out with it. What have you done?"

"What have I done?" Will asked, offended but overdramatically so. "What do you take me for?"

"Someone who is stalling," Nico said. The dynamic had been feeling weird and he suddenly realised why: usually it was him evading and Will chasing with varying degrees of patients. Everything had now been flipped on its head.

Will sighed.

"Breakfast is important," he said.

He held up his hands when Nico gave him an exacerbated look.

"It's been a really horrible year," he said quietly. "I wanted to try and put it behind me. I know you wanted that too. We were supposed to be starting again."

The pancake was very heavy in Nico's stomach. He put down his fork, his appetite suddenly gone. He tried to speak but all the words his mouth and heart wanted to say stayed stuck, his brain unable to form the correct phrasing, unable to force his tongue into action.

"Will," was all he managed.

"No," Will said. "I don't mean - I'm not blaming you. I'm not mad."

"I'm not," he added at Nico's incredulous look.

"You should be," Nico said. "I am."

"I'm really not," Will said. "C'est la vie and all that. I told myself I wouldn't be mad about all this way back and I'm sticking to it. My point is breakfast is the most important meal of the day -"

"You keep saying that," Nico said. "But I've never seen any evidence to show -"

The look Will gave him was one of the best Death Glares Nico had ever seen. It was sudden and it was swift and it had the power to shut up the rowdiest room of rebellious teenagers, a meeting room full of journalists. It certainly shut him up.

"I'll print you something out," Will said. "Let me talk."

"Sorry," Nico said, attempting to be rueful. Will shook his head with a sigh.

"The point is breakfast is important. Having time for myself is important. Us doing things is important. Loads of stuff that should be important I've been ignoring because I've always been busy with school stuff, or Luke stuff or arguing with you about whether or not I'm an enemy spy."

"I thought you agreed to let that go?" Nico said, half teasing, half grumbling.

Will smiled.

"But it's still so funny," he said innocently. "I'm not going to let in the important stuff in my life slide anymore."

"So basically," Nico said. "You are doing that post-break up thing where you suddenly want to go out and Live Life To The Full, except you’re doing it after we got back together."

Will met his eyes.

"I'm doing the I-nearly-died and it terrified me thing," he said.

Nico swallowed. The sound of a gunshot echoed in his head again.

"It terrified me too," Nico admitted. "I didn't want to talk about it because you looked like you were dealing with it so well."

Will shook this head.

"I hate this apartment," he said quietly. "I hate it."

"We'll look for somewhere else," Nico said immediately.

"Neither of us can afford that," Will said, more rational than Nico could be. "But doing stuff helps. Breakfast helps."

Nico nodded.

"These pancakes are really good," he said.

That drew out a smile, Will's small, pleased smile that was less sunshine blazing out and more like an internal light turning on and brightening his eyes.

"Glad you like them," he said.

"There was this thing Piper was talking about that she and Jason used to do when they weren't  you know opposite sides of the country. They'd have all these ideas for stuff to do in a jar and they'd pick one out each week and they'd have to do it."

Will laughed.

"Nico," he said. "You're a romantic!"

"No," Nico said scowling. "I'm just pandering to you."

" _I_ am a romantic," Will agreed. "And _I_ love the idea."

That brought out Nico's smile, rarer and more self-conscious.

"We'll have to have curry for dinner," Will said thoughtfully. "That's the only thing I can think of we've got in a jar."

"There's the nutella," Nico suggested.

"You are not eating an almost full jar of nutella."

They did have curry for dinner. Will was in charge of the meat and the sauce and the vegetables and Nico the rice which was the easier bit and left him with time to sit at the breakfast bar with scissors, sheets of paper and his laptop.

"You can't cut straight at all," Will commented as he chopped up an onion.

That was true, Nico couldn’t.

"Would you like to do this?" he asked.

Will laughed and shook his head.

"Unless you want to do this?"

"You're the better cook," Nico said.

"I don't know about that," Will said. "I've tried your spaghetti remember?"

"I'm a stereotype," Nico lamented. The scissors stuck on the paper and his attempts to un-jam them ended with a ripping sound.

"You know half of the problem here is these scissors!"

"Are they the red ones? Cos Cecil melted those."

Nico took a deep breath and threw the scissors down on the table and went on the hunt for a different pair. 

As they ate Nico googled things to do in the city. He felt uncomfortably touristy but he also began to realise exactly how much he didn't take advantage of living in New York.

"Musuem?" Nico suggested.

"We've been to the museum," Will said.

"When?"

"With Hazel. Remember?"

He did now. How could he have forgotten? Then he realised he measured the last half a year in the horrible things that had happened. Will was probably right, it was time to start doing the important things. Unlike Will though, he wasn't making any promises not to be mad about it all.

"The thing about museums," Nico said, "is that they often change the exhibits."

Will gave him a look.

"And there's more than one."

Will began to laugh.

"I wasn't objecting to the idea," he clarified. "Merely pointing out we used to do stuff before everything else got in the way."

"I'm putting it down," Nico said. "Because we've only written one other thing down so far and that's go to a restaurant."

"Skiing," Will suggested.

"You just said we couldn't afford to move, how do you think we're going to afford to ski?"

"Bank robbery," Will answered. "Jewel theft. Fraud. Are you writing those down!"

"I thought they were suggestions," Nico said innocently.

"You can't put those in the jar, no Nico!" Nico had folded them all up and put them in the washed and dried curry sauce jar.

"We agreed that once stuff was in the jar, we wouldn't take it out!" Nico said.

"That was more because I thought you would argue against I don't know bowling and try and sneak it out," Will protested but he laughed and shrugged.

"But rules are rules," he continued. "Leave them in there. When we get arrested we can say it was all the curry jars fault, it told us we had to rob the bank."

"We'd certainly end up making the case for an insanity plea," Nico said.

Will grinned.

"Okay," he said, "so we've got go out for dinner, go to a museum, rob a bank, steal some jewels and commit fraud. What other wholesome weekend activities are there?"

"I don't know," Nico said. "You're supposed to be the romantic one."

Will sighed.

"Movie night," he said. "Ice skating, bowling, karaoke, picnic, go to the park, go to the beach -"

"Go slower because I can't write that quick."

"Theatre, concert, road trip," Will continued, with exaggerated slowness. "One of those escape room things. Paintballing Fancy breakfasts. Coffee shop."

"You really like breakfast," Nico commented.

"I'm rediscovering the benefits," Will said.

"It's going to last a week," Nico said. "Two weeks tops."

"Nuh-uh," Will answered. "I'm a changed person."

"It's like all those new years resolutions people always make. They never last."

"Mine last year was to get a boyfriend who was linked to my shady crime boss so I didn't have to worry about him judging me for _having_ a shady crime boss, so you know I think I actually achieved mine."

Nico stared at him.

"No it wasn't," he said. "I didn't know you back then but I know one hundred per cent it wasn't that."

"Okay maybe not exactly that," he said. "But it was to get a boyfriend. Lou Ellen and Cecil kept bugging me about it and there was the Drew thing and I thought I couldn't run from relationships forever. So technically I passed."

Nico thought about that.

"I think mine was to eat more vegetables."

Will burst out laughing.

"In what universe did you think you'd ever achieve that?" he asked.

"Oh shut up," Nico said. "I've got better."

"I'm not one hundred per cent sure accepting vegetables on pizza really counts."

"It definitely counts."

Will shook his head, smiling.

Nico washed up because Will had done most of the cooking and it built up good boyfriend brownie points and he never knew when he might need them. Will read, a heavy looking textbook, occasionally pausing to dry a plate or glass.

"We should do something tonight," he said suddenly, looking up from the textbook. "From the jar I mean."

Nico shrugged.

"Yeah alright," he said. "Though what are we going to do if it says we have to rob a bank?"

Will looked at him very seriously.

"The jar is the law remember?"

"Why do I feel like we've started a two person cult?"

Will just laughed and let him pick.

"Wait what if it's something like go out for dinner? We've just had dinner."

Nico paused, fingers clutching one of the folded bits of paper.

"The jar is law remember?" Nico said, mocking Will. "I don't know, we'll pick something for tomorrow?"

"Yeah okay."

Nico brought the paper out, unfolded it.

"Picnic," he said.

"How wholesome," Will said with a pleased grin.

"Are you mocking it?" Nico asked. "Because you chose it!"

"No," Will said. "I meant it. I really like picnics."

Nico glanced at his watch.

"We could go get the stuff now?" he suggested. "We've got nothing else to do this evening."

Will narrowed his eyes at Nico.

"You just don't want to get up early to do it tomorrow," he accused.

He was one hundred per cent, completely and totally spot on.

"Maybe," Nico admitted.

"I'm not opposed," Will said. "Let me get my coat."

The air was brisk as they walked to the store. The wind whipped at his cheeks and hair, around them the twilight city was a series of lights in windows. Nico peered in through each one, thinking about what it might be like inside.

They walked slowly, not needing to hurry, talking about anything from Will's school work to Nico's plans for the future, from whether or not that particular cloud looked like pikachu to the likelihood that ghosts were real.

For the first time in a month, the feeling of being settled didn't feel fake, didn't scare him. He was still angry, furious, at everything that was going on. But this was nice. This was a distraction he thought maybe he could hold onto.

The store was bright and cheerful against the cold winter twilight. He let Will pick most of the food, only questioning his choice to put hummus in the basket because hummus was overrated and possibly even worse a choice than Will's thing for pineapple.

"Relationships are about compromise," Will told him sternly and kept it in the basket. "And this ones really yummy. I think you'd like it."

"I think you're very wrong."

Nico chose the bread while Will looked at the fruit on offer. Nico picked up a packet of chocolate pretzels, but when he got back to put the things in the basket Will was still holding, he found Will had done the same.

"M&Ms too?" Nico asked. "We really are going all out."

"Start as we mean to go on," Will answered.

Will paid on his card because Nico was down to his last few notes. The walk back took a little less time, neither of them wanted to dawdle now that they were both carrying heavy shopping bags. As they were nearing the apartment Will suddenly stopped. Nico didn't notice for a second, when he turned back Will was staring up at their apartment with a slight frown.

"Did we leave the lights on?" he asked.

"I don't remember," Nico said slowly. "But I don't think we closed the curtains."

Will frowned.

"I might have done that," he admitted. "I don't remember."

"Cecil has a key right?" Nico said.

Will nodded tersely.

"So it could be nothing."

"Yeah," Will said. "Could be."

They looked at each other.

"Maybe we should call someone."

"Who?" Will asked, voice tight.

Nico shook his head, helplessly.

"This is silly," Will said. "It's probably just Cecil."

Neither of them moved. Nico could hear his heartbeat, feel it hammering. The shopping bags were heavy in his grip. He was glad Will wasn't moving because if he did, Nico wasn't sure he'd be able to follow his legs were locked so tight. The sound of the gunshot echoed in his head once more. He scanned up and down the street, plenty of black cars any one of them could belong to Ares. Or any one of them could belong to a neighbour.

He shifted the weight of the shopping bags.

"We've got to go in," Will said. "You know at some point."

"Right."

Still neither of them moved. Their curtains were thin, thin enough that both of them, eyes trained on their apartment, saw the dark shape of someone moving inside, close to the windows. Suddenly the curtains twitched, then parted and someone stared out into the street, looking away from them but Nico recognised the profile.

"That's Jason."

Will let out a stuttered laugh, pure relief.

"Come on," he said. "These bags are getting really heavy."

Half way up the stairs Nico remembered what his father had said about Jason. He paused, Will ahead of him didn't notice. Did he call Will back?

No. This was Jason. He didn't care what his father said. Jason was not a threat to him, and he was not a threat to Will.

He caught Will up at the door, as Will unlocked it.

As they went in, Jason hurried towards them. The stag do had only been a week ago, but he looked even thinner than he had.

"Sorry," he said. "Percy lent me a key."

"How does Percy have a key?" Nico asked but Jason looked too distracted to answer if he did know.

"I needed to talk to you both," he said. "And you weren't in so I just -"

"Jason come sit down," Will said, in his best calming influence voice. For the first time it registered that Jason was shaking slightly. "Nico will get you a drink. What do you want? Water? Juice? A shot?"

Jason gave a shaky smile.

"Water's fine."

As Will herded Jason over to the sofa, Nico got out a glass with shaking hands. Jason had always been so together, the fact that he was scared now didn't bode well. It didn't bode well at all. Nico was glad Will was here, because if it were just him and Jason one or the other of them would probably have accidentally pushed the other into full on fearful hysterics by now.

Nico handed Jason the water and Jason muttered his thanks. He seemed calmer already.

"Sorry I'm so jumpy," he said.

Will waved the apology away.

"I just need to know," Jason said. "Have either of you heard of the Olympus foundation?"


	7. Chapter Six - I Knew That The Past Couldn’t Last

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title from I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing, by the Pet Shop Boys.

Years ago.

Bianca yawned and stretched, accidentally hitting one hand against the window and one hand against Percy's head. He jolted awake, kicking out at the front seat which got Zoe up. All the grumbling, complaining and mixed confusion woke Thalia.

"I hated this motel," Percy commented, pulling himself upright and rubbing at his eyes. "0 stars, would not recommend."

"We booked somewhere for tonight," Thalia said. "So there'll be actual beds and showers. You know providing we can find it."

 Zoe and Thalia wanted to go to some museum in some town somewhere. Percy was ambivalent but since he was stuck in the car with them couldn't stop them if he'd wanted to, unless he was planning on walking home. Bianca just wondered whether the museum was part of Thalia's secret mission part of the roadtrip or whether Thalia and the still unexplained Zoe just really liked old stuff.

Bianca had been to a lot of museums as part of their mom's attempt and then their father's attempt to enrich their lives with culture and knowledge. Plus it got them out of the house on the days when there was nothing to do because their mom had frowned upon television except on weekends and even then only after they'd done all their homework and their chores and all other entertainment options had been exhausted. No wonder Nico had gotten so obsessed with mythomagic and his comics - it was sheer self defence against complete and total boredom.

Bianca should get some hobbies. She'd never really found a niche though, never really picked up anything and stuck with it. She'd tried musical instruments, ballet, girl guides and all the other nice, gentile, enriching hobbies her mom thought would be good for her. None of them had caught her interest and so she'd just ended up playing with Nico. It kept him happy and at least now she could claim a very thorough knowledge of mythology even if alongside it she had a very thorough knowledge of attack and defence stats.

They stopped at another McDonald's for breakfast.

"Do you think by the end of this trip we'll be sick of McDonalds?" Percy asked, philosophically as he bit into his egg mcmuffin. 

"We'll go to KFC for dinner," Thalia answered, slightly sarcastically. She had the largest coffee they had but wasn't eating. In complete contrast to the day before she seemed tense as a bow string, though whether that was because she had had very little sleep or whether that was because she was anticipating whatever the day was going to bring for her, Bianca didn't know. Zoe was quiet too, but that suited the aloofness she'd presented when they'd first met. Bianca still hadn't gotten the explanation for Zoe's presence. Maybe that would have to be the topic of her and Thalia's next late night talk.

"So what's so special about this museum then?" Percy asked.

"Got an exhibit we need for school," Thalia said. It was a perfectly natural answer but something about it didn't ring quite true.

"You are aware I hate museums right?"

"What's wrong with museums?"

"They are a school trip thing. And school trips always seem to go wrong for me."

"Everything always goes wrong for you," Thalia answered, but she didn't put as much venom in it as she could have done. Percy couldn't even be bothered to answer that with a retort. Thalia, after all, wasn't exactly wrong.

"You don't have to come," Thalia said suddenly. "We could drop you off and you could go I don't know shop or... something."

Whether it was her uninspiring delivery or not, Percy just shook his head.

"I'll take school trip to the museum."

The museum looked like every other museum Bianca had ever gone to, stone steps leading up to a building with lots of columns and fancy triangular bits and lots of darkened windows. Tourists were already streaming up the steps when they got there and they joined the crowds.

"What are you looking for?" Percy asked as they went through the doors. He'd made a beeline for the map, perhaps aiming to streamline their visit and ensure they didn't see anything they didn't have to see.

"Can you even read that?" Zoe asked Percy innocently. 

"This little x means treasure right?"

Zoe, slightly unexpectedly laughed.

"So where _are_ we going?" Percy asked.

"Hold on," Thalia reached into the pocket of her jacket and removed a folded bit of paper. She and Zoe examined the paper, looked up at the map, looked down at the paper, looked up at the map. Bianca became even more sure there was something more about this museum than a homework assignment that the famously academically unenthused Thalia was suddenly incredibly invested in. Percy was frowning at them both.

"Greek myths," Thalia said in answer to Percy's earlier question. "But I can't see -"

"There's a Roman exhibit in the Long Gallery." Percy said. "I mean same thing right?"

"You've been around Nico for five minutes, you know it's not," Thalia said. Percy sighed.

"Are you sure it's the right museum?"

Thalia glanced at Zoe, who nodded very firmly.

"Well they change the exhibits every so often so maybe it's not here anymore. You want me to google it?"

Thalia shook her head, tapping the bit of paper against her lips thoughtfully.

"Well let's wander," Percy said, impatient to move off. "We might come across it."

Percy initially walked quickly through each room, but then he got interested in a display of old coins and then in a marine life exhibit. Thalia moved on, slightly restless, and Bianca followed. Unexpectedly Zoe stayed behind with Percy, staring at various marine life.

"What's going on?" Bianca asked. "And by that, I mean what's really going on. There's no way you're only here for homework."

"I told you, you're not getting involved," Thalia said firmly. She glanced left and right at the different exhibits but never stopped long enough to really take anything in.

"Okay fine," Bianca said. "But does Percy know what you're really doing? Because he's getting suspicious."

Thalia sighed.

"I didn't tell him," she said. "I meant to. Like just give him a heads up - I'm not letting him get involved either. But I never got round to it and then I thought maybe it's better he doesn't know anything at all. I probably shouldn't have told you anything." 

"What are you so scared of?" Bianca demanded.

"I don't know," Thalia whispered, suddenly candid. "Everything. I'm scared Luke's dead in a ditch somewhere. I'm scared my dad's involved in some shady stuff. I'm scared that he's going to drag Jason into it all."

Bianca pursed her lips.

"Well I think you should tell us," she said, firmly on her high horse. "If your dad is involved in something shady that might impact on us. We're all in this together remember. Heirs to the same business."

"If my dad thinks I'm going to run a business," Thalia said. "He's going to be sorely disappointed."

Bianca laughed and tried to imagine punk rock, rough edged Thalia heading a board meeting.

"I don't know," Bianca said. "I reckon you'd be great. Whip everyone into shape."

Thalia laughed.

"Can you imagine me in a business suit?" she demanded.

"No, no," Bianca said. "You'd have to go in in your regular clothes. Pins and all."

"I think my dad would have a heart attack," Thalia said. "And all his high ranking what-do-you-call-ems after him. He was furious enough when I cut my hair short. He said it was unlady like."

"It's not just dads," Bianca answered, stopping to examine an old vase meditatively. "You know what my mom was like. It was like she was stuck in the Victorian era, she wanted me to be all prim and proper and ladylike."

"She was kind of terrifying sometimes," Thalia agreed. "I always felt like I had to stick my little finger out when drinking and know which fork was which. She loved you though."

Bianca nodded.

"Sometimes I forget that," she said quietly staring at a necklace unseeingly, eyes hot. "And I just remember the bad stuff. But she used to teach Nico and to bake and cook. She always played with us. We would have fun. But I hated her for not letting me do stuff everyone was doing. I wanted to go to karate but that wasn't delicate enough."

"After my mom went I felt relieved for a little bit," Thalia said, more to herself than Bianca. "Then I felt bad that I didn't care, that I wasn't very sad. She was great once when I was really little. But all I really remember is the drinking and the yelling. She forgot Jason once, just left him in a cart at the shops because she got distracted. What kind of mom forgets their kid?"

Bianca didn't have an answer for that. Thalia didn't look away from the display and neither did she.

"You've got to tell me T," Bianca said. "Tell me what's going on. You know I'll just keep asking otherwise."

Thalia sighed and glanced around, obviously looking for Zoe or Percy. Either they were still distracted by the marine exhibit, or they'd wandered on.

"Alright," Thalia said. "But let's find the cafe I saw on that map. I missed breakfast."

Thalia ordered a sandwich, a chocolate bar and another coffee.

"Do you think maybe you're addicted to coffee?" Bianca asked.

"Do you think maybe you should shut up?" Thalia answered, mild and teasing. She was tapping at her phone while her coffee cooled. She dropped it down onto the table and opened the chocolate.

"I'm starving," she said.

"I texted Percy," she added. "Told him we'd meet up here."

Bianca nodded and took a sip of her hot chocolate.

"So?" Bianca said pointedly.

Thalia grimaced, like she’d been hoping Bianca would forget.

"Fine," she said with a faintly irritated scowl. "So I told you about the warehouse?"

"You did."

"Well that's the main reason for this whole roadtrip. But there's a couple of stops along the way that I wanted to check out. I wasn't lying about the Greek exhibit: I did want to see it. There's a lot of files in my dad’s office under the names of three Greek gods."

"Hades, Posideon and Zeus," Bianca said. "Those were the nicknames they got. But that's not news."

Thalia nodded.

"But then I found out he sends regular donations to this museum. He doesn't ever donate to _anything_ , but he's been sending money here every year at least once, sometimes more than that. I thought there might be a connection somewhere. I mean the names had to come from somewhere right?"

Bianca shook her head, picking the crusts off her sandwich.

"I don't know Thalia," she said. "Maybe you're right but you shouldn't push it. I mean looking through your dad's finances -"

"The company's finances," Thalia said. "The company that, as you pointed out I am heir to. I want to find out exactly what I'm getting into."

"I don't want you to get into any trouble," Bianca said. "What if you do find something? What are you going to do then?" Thalia shrugged.

"I - ".

She broke off frowning.

The cafe was up on a gallery, and glass fencing allowed an uninterrupted view of the main hall below. Thalia's gaze had settled on the marble floor. She was frozen, frowning, her hand halfway to her mouth.

"Thalia!"

She dropped the piece of sandwich she'd been holding, stood up to lean out over the balcony.

"Thalia!" Bianca tried again. "What is it?"

"That's Jones. He's my dad's guy."

She stood up quickly, her chair scraping on the floor, nearly tipping backwards. Thalia hurried off, making for the stairs. Bianca followed. This was exactly the kind of thing she was worried about. Thalia was headstrong though, and stubborn and no matter how Bianca entreated as they hurried down the escalator she would not listen to reason.

"You can't just go chasing some guy."

"We go way back," Thalia said grimly, not paying the slightest bit of attention. "He kidnapped me once."

"An excellent reason not to stalk him," Bianca said.

"You should go upstairs," Thalia said. "Wait for Percy and Zoe."

 "Not if you won't," Bianca said. "Someone's got to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

Though that someone seemed to be her, she wasn't particularly good at it. At the bottom of the escalator Thalia didn't stop or pause, in fact she used the momentum of the escalator to move even quicker away. She strode across the hall, scattering tourists who stared at her and at Bianca who hurried along in Thalia's wake.

"Thalia!" Bianca hissed. "Slow down. You're going to knock someone out."

Whether it was Bianca's instruction, or the fact Thalia was beginning to realise she was drawing attention to herself, Thalia did slow ever so slightly.

Jones had gone through into the exhibition halls on the right so that's where Thalia went, and because that's where Thalia went, that was where Bianca went. They went straight through a display on the Egyptians, past a mummy that, under other circumstances Bianca might have stopped and looked at. There was something intrinsically fascinating about the practice of wrapping up the dead.

Thalia was frowning, pace quickening. As they went through into the next room, they finally caught sight of Jones again and Thalia allowed them both to slow. Jones wasn’t hard to tail: he was the only other person in the museum walking with such intent. He stood out in his suit, he stood out in the way he walked along, uninterested in the ancient artefacts he was surrounded by.

They went into the next room.

"Greeks," Thalia whispered. "I told you. But why couldn't we see this on the map?"

"Because apparently none of us can read a map and Zoe wasn't paying attention?" Bianca suggested, in equally hushed tones.

"What is the deal with Zoe anyway?" Bianca asked on the vague hope the sudden question might startle Thalia into an actual answer.

"Not now," Thalia hissed. "What's he looking at?"

Jones had paused very briefly at one of the cases, made a very quick note in a journal he pulled from his pocket and then moved on. Thalia cast a quick glance over the case before following him. Bianca paused, hanging back for a moment while she stared into the glass cabinet, trying to figure out what could have attracted the guys attention. There was nothing particularly special, nothing that could stand out as being a special or time limited acquisition. In fact a quick glance around the rest of the room was enough to see that almost every item had another, similar item in a case somewhere around the room.

And yet something was bothering her. Something was tugged at her memory, something was familiar. Was it just because she spent so much time playing cards with Nico? Was it just something in the case reminded her of one of those cards or one of those stories? Or was it something more sinister. Thalia was so sure something was going on.

Bianca had to agree. She'd tried to dissuade Thalia, admittedly not especially well, but she'd tried. Now she was catching the bug too. She was probably just jumpy, seeing patterns where there were none.

And Thalia had run off on her own while she'd been staring at a few urns and some assorted coins.

She quickly hurried into the next room but there was no Thalia. She didn't stop, just went through to the next room, and then the next room and then she was back in the entrance hall, having completed the loop.

And there she was standing, glowering.

"Thalia! What happened?"

"He vanished," Thalia said, quietly furious, quietly seething. "He must have seen me and doubled back somehow. Or - I don't know. He can't have got that far ahead of me. One minute he's there and then he goes into the next room, I catch up like two seconds later and he's gone. Just gone."

"I don't think he doubled back," Bianca said. "I was still in the Greek room and I didn't see anyone come through."

She thought.

"But then I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention," she admitted.

Thalia was still scowling, still seething. She threw up her hands.

"Then where did he go!" she said. "I refuse to believe there was a secret door."

Bianca gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Hey," she said. "At least you were right. It looks like there is something going on with this museum."

Thalia sighed, the anger leaving her in her outward huff of breath.

"Or maybe Jones was just here to do his homework," she said.

Bianca giggled.

"We should meet the others," she said. "Percy already thinks you’re losing it with your sudden museum fascination. Don't want to make him think you've lost your interest in food too."

Thalia nodded, accepting that.

Percy and Zoe had found a table and had already gotten their food. The table Bianca and Thalia had been sitting at had been cleared which meant Bianca had lost her lunch. Thalia paid for a replacement, once again using her dad's credit card.

"Does he know you have that?" Bianca asked.

"Oh yes," Thalia said. "It's for emergencies."

"This is an emergency?"

"Food is a necessity," Thalia said innocently. Bianca was pretty sure Thalia's definition of emergency got stretched in lots of other ways too. Emergency new shoes, emergency records, emergency road trip.

"Are we done with the museum?" Percy asked. "Not that I didn't enjoy it because you know in the end it wasn't terrible, but I'm ready to do something that couldn't in any way be classed as educational."

Thalia laughed.

"Yeah," she said. "I think I'm done with this place."

After eating they did, as Percy requested, leave to find something to do that wasn't in any way classed as educational. That required a bit of wandering, but the sun was shining and the day was warm and they found an ice cream shop so they all got cones and so wandering wasn't so bad. They took a photo in a park, which Bianca partly suspected was at least 70% so they'd have road trip proof in case Thalia's father asked. (If his credit card statement wasn't proof enough.)

They checked into a motel where there were actual beds and actual showers and a TV with lots of channels and nothing on. Bianca stayed in the shower a long time, until the bathroom was nothing but steam, and thought and thought. She couldn't get the glass case at the museum out of her head. There was something.

Something.

They had two rooms, but they all gathered in one talking and ignoring the television. It was pushing midnight when they even began thinking about going to bed, gone one by the time they actually started acting on it. In the dark, unfamiliar room, Bianca lay on the unfamiliar bed, the sheets pulled up to her chin and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. She was just drifting off, her mind finally exhausted of turning over all the possibilities when it came to her in a flash.

Thalia was in the next room, but even so Bianca briefly considered waking her to tell her what she’d figured out.

But no, Percy was there too.

It would have to wait until morning.


	8. Chapter Seven - Here Today, Built to Last

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from West End Girls
> 
> (I'm back! and wow does this whole story need some editing - not plot stuff but just little structural stuff that's bugging me)

It had been approximately five minutes since the last world-changing event hit them, so they were probably due another one. Jason's statement was probably earth-shattering but neither he nor Will appreciated that and just stared at him slightly blankly. Jason sighed in relief and sank back slightly into the cushions.

"Is that bad?" Will asked.

"No," said Jason. "That's good. That's really good."

Nico wasn't sure if it was just him or whether Jason really wasn't making much sense. He glanced at Will, but Will was just surreptitiously examining Jason, in med-student and doctor to the mob mode.

"Did -" Jason paused. He looked at Will as though trying to figure out how to phrase something.

"Luke never mentioned it," Will said, acting more composed than he must have been feeling. "Nico can you get that notebook?"

Nico got up to did that, leaving Will examining a cut on Jason's arm.

"How did you get this?" Will asked, as Nico padded away. Nico stopped listening. He didn't want to know. He couldn't know.

Everywhere around him the protective bubble he'd been forming  was fracturing and cracking. The world was pushing in, reality was coming for him. But why was this his reality? Why couldn't whatever drama his father and Jason's father were involved in just leave them all alone? Why couldn't he just have a boyfriend and worry about paying the rent and who was going to wash the dishes.

Actually, that was never really a worry. They both knew who would always end up doing the dishes.

He glanced at the date jar as he picked up Will's notebook. It had been only an hour or so since they'd been happily, soppily, writing down ideas for dates like a normal - sickeningly sweet - couple. Now it felt like a lifetime away. It felt like they had two different lives, two different personas - crisis and normality.

Normality hadn't lasted long and they had more experience with crisis. In the long hours of night that stretched out into time spent in the dark reaches of dark thoughts, deep worries that he usually shoved to the back of his head, he sometimes wondered if he and Will could cope without secrets, without drama, without crisis. If he closed his eyes and thought really hard he could maybe, just about see the two of them with a house and a car and proper jobs, maybe even kids. But the picture was hazy. The picture was hard to reach.

The picture might scare him a little.

He knew Will liked him, and liked him a lot. You didn't stay with someone who's family and family friends had tried to kill you, unless you liked them a lot. He knew that Will was loyal. He knew that despite Will's habit of picking up habits - even healthier eating, going to the gym, no tv days - and dropping them a week later, Will was loyal. He stayed, come rain or shine. Will was one of those people who didn't shy away from forever.

Nico couldn't say the same for himself.

Case in point: Austin. Nico had finally managed to convince Will he wasn't overthinking the secret brother. He'd then managed to convince himself he wasn't other-thinking the secret brother. Mostly convince himself anyway.

It wasn't the secret side of it he was over thinking this time, but the family aspect. And okay maybe the secret side. But not in the same sense as before: he _had_ changed, no matter the looks Jason might give him. But Will's loyalty to his foster brother despite not seeing him in years, how torn up Will's life had become because of the past, because of those secrets - well that was something Nico was over thinking. Will had made it clear he didn't blame Nico for the possible actions of his father, the definite actions of Jason's father, Percy's father.

But would that hold? Would Will's loyalty hold?

And if Will was so loyal would there be a time when he went back to Luke?

No. Nico was not going down that path again. He _wasn't_.

He picked up the notebook just as Will called out to ask what was taking so long, and for a glass of coke and a pack of cookies. He assumed the coke and the cookies were for Jason, so he picked up the remains of packet of oreos - Jason's favourite and carried it all the into the living room.

He put everything down on the coffee table and Jason took an oreo. That was good. Jason looked too thin.

Will picked up the notebook, weighing it briefly in his hands before flipping the pages over, scanning his writing as though something might job a memory, a synapse might spark and he might suddenly unlock the secrets of the universe.

"Nothing," Will said with a shrug. The notebook seemed heavy in his palms.

"Something in here might help anyway," he said, holding it out to him. Jason reached out with a certain amount of reverence. He read, quickly and his expression changed. Sympathy? Wonder? Slight suspicion. Nico couldn't read Jason as well as he used to.

He wondered if he should have stopped Will giving Jason the book, but it was too late now anyway. And anyway Jason wasn't a threat. He had to stop letting his father get to him.

They'd already eaten, but they had a second dinner because of the unspoken agreement between him and Will that Jason needed to eat. With the lights on and Will making jokes, most of them at Nico's expense (Nico didn't mind because they were drawing smiles out of Jason, and then good-natured teasing out of Jason), Jason started looking more Jason like.

Midway through the evening, Jason and Will began ganging up on Nico's relationship with vegetables. Nico quickly diverted them with a question about Thalia.

"Won't talk about what happened," Jason said with a sigh. "But doing alright. She and Piper are getting on great. Always ganging up on me though."

"Gee," Nico said and he didn't think he'd ever felt the sarcasm dripping from his tongue so venomously, "I wonder how that feels."

Will just laughed; Jason pointed out how many nutrients aubergine had in with a beatific smile.

"That may be," Nico said, poking a piece with his fork. "But I hate the texture."

"I have to sneak vegetables in," Will said. "Like you have to do for little kids."

"I seem to recall earlier you saying how much you liked my spaghetti dear," Nico said. "And I put vegetables in that. You just have terrible taste in healthy stuff."

Jason went home with a bit of colour in his cheeks. After Nico shut the door behind him, and bolted it, he looked at Will, in the kitchen and staring into space.

"You didn't have to give Jason the notebook," Nico said softly. "That was a nice thing."

Will nodded. He pressed the thumb of one hand into the palm of the other. It was a nervous habit he'd only picked up very recently.

"It'll probably help," he said with a shrug. "And besides it will probably all come out at some point anyway."

He looked resigned. Nico wanted to get rid of that look but he didn't know how, not when he himself was resigned too.

Would they even survive without secrets?

He either needed to sleep, or a distraction. He glanced at his watch, Will noticed.

"Picnic tomorrow," he said. "First day of the rest of our lives doing the important stuff and all that."

Nico nodded.

"Are you saying early night?"

"Early night for you would be about 3am given how late you woke up," Will teased.

"It wasn't that late!" Nico protested, poking him in the ribs. Will giggled, squirming. He was extremely ticklish. It gave Nico the edge in arguments when Will had the edge with his sarcastic _dears_ and _loves_ and _sweethearts_ melted Nico into butter outside in a heatwave. Will had not yet worked out that Nico was equally, and possible even more, ticklish. It was one secret he intended to keep from Will until he was cold in his grave.

Still giggling Will moved back, out of reach.

"I was just going to suggest Mario Kart," he said. "I'm not tired yet and aside from our super romantic rom-com picnic, we don't have much to do tomorrow."

"I'll take you up on that," Nico said. "Providing I get to be Luigi."

"You can be Luigi if you get there first," Will offered, sprinting away to the living room as he spoke.

"Come back cheat!" Nico called, running after him.

The next day dawned fair and warm: perfect picnic weather. Will, full of visions of checked blankets and wicker baskets searched for both despite knowing full well they'd never owned either of those items. He was debating going out to find them and whether amazon could same day delivery them and whether that was even a thing, or he'd dreamt it, when the doorbell went.

Will still deep in picnic planning land, ignored it. Nico drinking coffee and eating this morning's pancakes (Will was apparently very serious about big, important breakfasts - not that Nico was complaining) had to get up. He was expecting Jason, maybe Percy or Cecil. Lou Ellen even. He certainly wasn't expecting Thalia.

"Hey," she said, quietly hands shoved deep into the pockets of her jeans. "Jason gave me your address. I wanted to bring this back."

She took Will's notebook out of her jacket pocket.

Nico nodded. Then remembered they were both standing opposite sides of the doorway.

"Right," he said. "Come in?"

Thalia picked up on his tone.

"Won't stay long," she assured him. "I know you two are probably busy. I just wanted to ask Will something."

Nico pursed his lips, sour and irritated. He tried to shove it down but it was a pressure behind his eyes, a heat in his blood.

Thalia went through into the living room where Will was still at the laptop, staring with slight horror at the prices of picnic hampers.

"Hey," she said. "Thalia. Jason's sister."

"I remember," Will said. "From the party?"

Thalia and Will hadn't interacted much. Thalia, strangely, seemed unsure and she nodded, picking at a silver thread along the hem of the jacket. She didn't sit down, just stood uncomfortable and thoughtful in the centre of the room. Will closed the laptop.

"Brought this back," Thalia said, handing the notebook to Will. "Jason copied it all out. He said you wouldn't mind?"

Will shook his head.

"I suggested it."

Thalia nodded again. The thread was getting longer as she played with it, winding it tight around her finger.

"You knew Luke fairly well?"

Will looked down at the table, quiet now too. Nico suddenly got the impression he wasn't necessarily an important part of the conversation. He faded, as unobtrusively as he could into the kitchen. He could still hear them talking, could still jump in and rescue Will or kick Thalia out if things got too much. Could still eavesdrop.

He closed his eyes and took a breath. Sometimes he really hated his inner self.

"I guess," Will said. "I mean as much as anyone. He just kept to himself really. Didn't say much to anyone or have much to do with anyone."

"No," Thalia said softly. "I knew him. He trusted you. I can tell from the things he told you."

Will looked down at his hands.

"It was a business relationship really," he said. "But he must have cared about you. I haven't seen him or contacted him in a couple of months and he still texted me the other day to make sure you were okay."

Thalia was pale, furious, upset, hurt. It was a mix of emotions Nico was intimately acquainted with and for the first time in a very long time he felt a flash of kinship to Thalia.

"See," she managed. "He trusts you."

She shrugged, pulled her jacket more closely around herself.

"He wasn't always terrible you know," she said. "Even now I'm sometimes not sure he's wrong. I just wish he -"

She broke off, shaking her head.

"Thanks for answering. I know it's probably not something you want to dwell on."

Will didn't deny that.

"Any time," he said.

Nico showed Thalia out. At the door she paused.

"I know you didn't want this," she said. "But I thought maybe now?"

Out of her pocket she pulled a mythomagic card. It was a rare version of Hades. It was the card Thalia had brought back from their road trip, the card Bianca had gotten for him.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, ignored the heat in his eyes. He managed to reach out a hand to take it.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

Thalia, didn't acknowledge it. That was fine: he didn't want her to. Acknowledging him would also mean she acknowledge how rigidly he was holding himself, how hard it had been to get the words out at all. She just turned and left. 

Back in the living room Will had opened up the laptop again and was back on the hunt for picnic hampers.

"We don't need a hamper," Nico said, forcing himself back to normality, back to that persona. "I mean how often are we going to picnic?"

"We should do it every weekend," Will said. Nico have him a look.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, forestalling Nico's comment. "I know. We'll probably do it twice and then it will rain and then we'll be busy and then -"

Nico sighed. Will was right, but suddenly he realised that he'd also been picturing their picnic with a hamper. Will's stupid romanticism was rubbing off, catching like the dreaded lurgy.

"We'll go today with a boring old carrier bag," he said. "And then we can look in some junk shops. I'm sure a thrift store somewhere will have a hamper."

Will grinned at him.

"What?" Nico said.

"You _are_ a romantic!" he said with a grin.

"It's your fault," Nico grumbled. "I'm pandering to you and some of your stupid ideals are rubbing off."

Will just grinned, not taking Nico seriously at all. Nico wondered how seriously he'd meant it. He'd never had the opportunity to be romantic before. It had been so much easier to be a cynic.

"I'll start packing the food," Will said. "See if you can find something to sit on. It doesn't have to be checked."

They had plenty of blankets. Nico folded one up on the fourth attempt and then they were out in the warm spring air. Birds sung, road rage was at a minimum. It was a lovely day.

In the park there were plenty of other picnic-ers: other couples, families with small children running happily across the grass. Nico watched them blankly. Was that his future? Or was his future darker, did his future involve an endless array of Luke's and Ares's and echoed gunshots in his head.

He honestly didn't know which he wanted, which scared him more. And that scared him.

"I'll just do all this myself shall I?" Will asked, teasingly as he shook the blanket out. Nico looked up at Will, blonde hair a bright halo on the warm day.

What are you scared about? he asked himself.

He didn't have the answer.

"I was just waiting for you to get the blanket down," Nico said, equally teasing. "Not my fault you're slow."

They talked. They watched clouds. They did everything they were supposed to do on a romantic picnic. But Will didn't seem to be as present as he might have been. Given how excited Will had been about the whole thing, his distractedness worried Nico. He got an explanation without warning, as Will stirred a pot of honey he'd been spreading on a slice of bread.

"Thalia's right," he said, watching the spoon go round and round. "Luke did trust me."

Nico had no idea what to say. He had no idea where Will's train of thought had come from, even less where it was going.

"Did you trust him?" he asked.

Will sighed.

"You know what," he said. "I did. At least to the extent that he would continue to pay me and continue to ensure I was as out of danger as possible."

"When I met him," Nico said. "He seemed okay. I think that was one of the things that really bothered me. He does all these terrible things, but he just stood there and seemed okay."

Will was quiet.

The spoon went round and round.

"You know," Will said quietly. "I sometimes wonder if he has done terrible things."

Nico really didn't know how to answer that one. He couldn't think of a single thing to say that wasn't Luke is evil!

"I mean what do we really know? Your father and Jason's father don't like him. He attacked them. But they also attack him. We don't know who is right."

"Luke's the mob," Nico said, frustrated, but he knew he was mostly frustrated with himself. Because Will was making sense. He didn't want Will to make sense. He didn't want things to get messier. He didn't want to find out just how loyal Will was.

"Yes but," Will said gently, "-and please don't take this the wrong way but - how do we know you're dad isn't. Jason's father isn't?"

If it were a gang fight, a turf war, if it was one version of a mob against another version of the mob would that make it better or worse?

If it was would Will pick Luke? Would Nico pick his own father?

"I -" Nico said. But then he shook his head. "Maybe you're right."

"I didn't mean to rock the boat," Will said. "Or ruin the picnic. But we don't know anything. I gave Jason the notebook because maybe we need to go back a bit. Figure out what happened in the past. Figure out who's right now. Maybe that's the only way we get out."

"That doesn't sound like getting out," Nico said, through gritted teeth. "That sounds like getting into it."

"Wasn't that your idea?" Will asked. "Getting into it to get out of it?"

"My idea largely involved neither of us getting hurt!" Nico snapped.

There was a beat of silence. Will put down the spoon. Nico played with the ring on his finger.

"We won't," Will said.

"You can't promise that," Nico said.

"No," Will said. "I guess I can't. But I can't promise we won't get hurt anyway. Ignoring everything, not being angry, it was okay before. But now Austin's here, and you're here and everything that goes with your dad and Jason's dad is here. I think now not being mad is making it worse. Ignoring it all is making it worse. Kayla's strong, she's doing okay. I don't have to worry about upsetting her."

"What about upsetting yourself?" Nico asked softly.

Will looked up at him, expression suddenly so much it made Nico dizzy.

"I've got you," Will said. "I know you'll be there."

Nico swallowed. He couldn't look up. It wasn't an I love you, the words weren't even close, but they carried the same tone, the same weight.

"And I've got Jason and Percy and Annabeth and Piper, and Lou Ellen and Cecil and -" Will added with a grin, completely and totally ruining the moment. Or maybe the way his eyes gleamed made it better. Either way Nico lent forward and kissed him.

"You have us," he agreed. It wasn't an I love you, but he hoped it carried the same tone, the same weight.

 


End file.
